Sins and Punishments
by The Emerald Cat
Summary: To some, the various villains Jesse has faced are redeemable. To others, they are far past redemption. To the Judge? Well... there's a reason these villains are now in a long hallway, where the only guarantee is that among these many doors is that there are monsters, who have all have faces that look far, far too familiar. (WARNINGS: SWEARING, GORE, DEATH)
1. Verdict

Ivor disappeared while making potions with Jesse.

He'd just taken the potion of healing off of it's brewing stand, observing the bright pink liquid to make sure there weren't any chunks in it, like last time, when the weird buzzing feeling in his stomach started.

He didn't pay attention to it at first (after all when you drank as many potions as he did you were bound to have weird feelings in your stomach every once in a while), just turning to Jesse and sending her off to go get some glow stone dust, and then the buzzing feeling started spreading to the rest of his body.

"Ivor!" Jesse shouted, rushing over as the potions maker stumbled into the table. Her shouting grew fuzzy and incomprehensible, and Ivor felt his vision start to blur.

"Jesse I-" were the last things Ivor said before the world spun and he found himself alone.

* * *

Aiden thought the guards had poisoned him.

It would've made sense- the buzzing in his stomach started almost immediately after he finished eating after all, and the guards weren't exactly subtle about their hatred towards him. Sure poison didn't normally spread a prickly feeling all over your body, and he didn't know of any ways to poison _food_ of all things, but he was in a completely different world, so it wasn't out of the option.

He ended up crouching on the floor as his vision began to grow foggy, and he realized he must have been making some kind of noise, because the door opened and he heard the guards saying something, but it seemed like their voices were far away.

Everything seemed to flash and spin all at once, and then he found himself on the floor of an unfamiliar room.

* * *

Cassie Rose knew exactly what was happening to her.

The moment the buzz started in her stomach she instantly recognized the feeling of being teleported. She felt shocked, followed by fear.

She had managed to escape the endermite trap awhile ago -thank Notch she'd made the blocks dirt- so she didn't really need an escape anymore. No, the problem was that she had no idea _who_ was teleporting her, nor where she'd end up.

A part of her wondered if it was Hadrian and the others, but they were the ones who sent her away in the first place, so why would the want her back? Soren, maybe, but he hadn't made contact with her(or anyone) in years, so why would the old bastard make contact now?

She slumped against a tree, trying to steady herself as her vision went cloudy, and realized that whoever was contacting her was somebody she didn't know.

She was proven right when the colors whirled and she found herself in a room completely foreign to her.

* * *

Harper stopped in the middle of her conversation when she felt the buzzing.

"Harper?" Harry asked, reaching a hand out, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She shoved Harry's hand away. "Don't touch me!" Harper said, stumbling backwards as the pre-teleportation buzz spread throughout her whole body, "There's nothing you can do- take care of Crown Mesa for me."

He was talking, trying to say something else, but her ears already were feeling stuffed with cotton, her hearing and vision wavering before her as she slumped to the ground.

When the swirl of colors swept her away and she appeared in a strange room, she could only dread what was in store for her.

* * *

Mevia knew the moment she made eye contact with Hadrian that the same thing was happening to both of them.

The pre-teleportation buzz always made her stomach feel like it was filled with fizzling acid, only this time it was worse.

"Mevia, it's Otto," Hadrian said, clenching his fists, "It has to be, there's no one else who has this technology. This is our chance."

Mevia nodded, the buzz prickling it's way to her hair and to her feet, "I know, Hadrian. I know."

She tensed her body as she learned to, keeping herself upright as her vision swam and the clucking of the zombie-sized chickens became distant. The world spun, but she forced herself not to stumble. She wouldn't be caught off guard when she faced Jesse again.

Then she appeared in a complete darkness, and an eerie, inhuman voice said "You should feel lucky, Hadrian, Mevia. I don't normally do this personally."

* * *

Otto thought Hadrian and Mevia were responsible.

As soon as the pre-teleportation buzz began, he scrambled through the chests in his make-shift office, worry pulsing through him. A small part of him hoped it was someone friendly(like Jesse, or Soren) but he only knew two people with the technology.

He slumped to the floor, and started scribbling down a hurried message that somebody would hopefully find, trying not to go into a full-on panic as the buzz spread throughout his whole body.

He finished the hurried message(_being teleported away, Hadrian and Mevia, find me – Otto_) just as his vision grew hazy and the buzz caused him to shudder. As the world began spin in a wide variety of colors, he only hoped that he was wrong.

But when he appeared a white room and looked at the other four inhabitants, he wasn't so sure being wrong was necessarily better then whatever was about to happen.

* * *

When Ivor first appeared in the room groggy and alone, he had no idea what just happened. He could gather that he'd been teleported(something he previously thought only existed in theory or ancient myths) but he had no idea where, or why.

Not to mention that the room itself was kind of odd. It was a simple room, not incredibly large (probably about 9x9 if he had to guess), the four walls and ceiling white. The room seemed well-lit, although he couldn't see any light sources, but there was no visible door anywhere in the room. The only object in the room was a large mirror that was almost as wide as the wall.

He didn't have time to ponder the peculiarity of the room for long, because after only a minute or so somebody appear out of thin air, on their knees, on the floor.

Ivor stood there with wide eyes as Aiden(of all the people to be stuck in a room with... no wait he wasn't the worst) stood up shakily, his hair a mess and his clothes were... well, about the quality one would expect from someone who had been in jail for over four months.

"_Aiden_?" Ivor finally blurted, and the boy looked up in shock.

"What-" The brunette stumbled backwards, back against the wall, "What are you doing here? Wait, where even am I?"

"I don't know whe-" Ivor tried to say, but he was interrupted as Cassie Rose materialized from nowhere, standing, but staggering into a wall. Her eyes widened as she looked to Ivor.

"Where am I? Who is he," she pointed to Aiden at that, "and why is he here? What-"

"I don't _know_\- just like I don't know why _you_ aren't rotting in a pit of endermites!"

"Wait, what?" Aiden asked, Ivor opened his mouth to explain, only for Harper to pop out of thin air, falling to the ground. She sat up, but once she glimpsed Cassie, she froze.

"...Cassie Rose?" Cassie went rigid as Harper said that, the inventor's voice unexpectedly quiet.

Ivor stared shocked at Harper. "You know Cassie Rose?" he asked.

She looked to the ground, a shadow seeming to cover her face, "...I did."

Silence took the room, the two women looking like they'd rather be anywhere then here, Ivor in a stunned silence, and Aiden in the corner confused.

It didn't last long once Otto materialized from nowhere, sitting on the ground and staring at everyone.

"Where am I?" the green-robed man asked, eyes widening as he made eye-contact with the Cassie, "Rose? What are you doing here?"

Ivor cleared his throat, causing everyone to look at him as he said, "I'm sorry to interrupt this little reunion or whatever, but does A_NYONE_ know what we're doing here?" No one spoke, so he continued by saying, "Well then in that case, maybe we should stop asking that question. Instead, I'm going to ask this: is there anybody here who _doesn't_ know each other?"

"Uh, me." Aiden said, raising his hand, "Who the hell exactly are you people?"

Nobody got a chance to reply to that, because at that moment an eerie, robotic-sounding voice echoed across the room saying _"ATTENTION, YOUR JUDGE IS SPEAKING TO YOU. LISTEN, FOR YOUR TRIAL IS NOW. YOU ALL ARE HERE BECAUSE EACH OF YOU HAVE COMMITED TERRIBLE SINS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PUNISHED ACCORDINGLY. I SHALL LIST NOW YOUR SINS FOR ALL TO SEE.__"_

"_IVOR THE VENGEFUL.__"_ Ivor felt his blood go cold as the voice continued, _"__ YOU HAVE COMMITED THE SIN OF UNJUST VENGEANCE. USING THE COMMAND BLOCK YOU STOLE FROM YOUR ORDER, YOU CREATED THE WITHERSTORM, WHICH WREAKED HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION UPON YOUR WORLD, HARMING PEOPLE UNECCESSARILY. YOUR VERDICT: GUILTY. YOUR PUNISHMENT: THE MALADY.__"_

"_AIDEN THE ENVIOUS_." Aiden blanched as the voice said his name, _"__YOU HAVE COMMITED THE SIN OF DESTRUCTION FOR PERSONAL GAIN. YOU STOLE AN ARTIFACT FROM THOSE WHO EARNED IT, MANIPULATED THE LEADER OF A CITY TO ELIMINATE YOUR ENEMIES, USURPED THAT LEADER AND SENT DEADLY MOBS INVADING THE CITY TO HARM INNOCENTS. YOUR VERDICT: GUILTY. YOUR PUNISHMENT: THE BLAZE.__"_

"_CASSIE ROSE THE MANIPULATIVE. YOU HAVE COMMITED THE SIN OF UNNESCECARRY MURDER. YOU MANIPULATED THE PEOPLE OF THAT WORLD FOR THE SAKE OF STEALING FROM THEM FOR SELFISH MEANS, THEN SET ELABORATE TRAPS TO KILL THEM TO HARVEST THE ITEM FROM THEIR INVENTORY. YOUR VERDICT: GUILTY. YOUR PUNISHMENT: THE HAUNTED.__"_ Cassie didn't pale, didn't speak, she just looked to the ground.

"_HARPER THE INCEPTION.__" _Shame showed itself clearly on Harper's face as she looked to the ground, _"__YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE SIN OF CREATING EVIL. YOU CREATED A BEING OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITHOUT THINKING OF THE CONSEQUENCES, AND THAT MACHINE WENT ON TO TAKE OVER THE MINDS OF AN ENTIRE WORLD'S CIVILIZATION, AND YOU ONLY DESTROYED YOUR MACHINE WITH OUTSIDE AID. YOUR VERDICT: GUILTY. YOUR PUNISHMENT: THE PROGRAM.__"_

"_OTTO THE BYSTANDER.__"_ Otto looked up at the ceiling, confused, but realization dawning as the voice went on to say _"__YOU HAVE COMMITED THE SIN OF ALLOWING EVIL TO THRIVE. THOUGH HADRIAN AND MEVIA WERE THE ONES COMMITING THE SINS OF EXPLOITING HARM FOR PLEASURE, DECIET FOR PERSONAL GAIN, AND ENJOYMENT OF VIOLENCE, YOU ALLOWED THEM TO TAKE PART IN THESE SINS WITHOUT MAKING AN EFFORT TO STOP THEM. THE INNOCENT BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS IS ALSO ON YOURS. YOUR VERDICT: GUILTY. YOUR PUNISHMENT: THE DEALMAKER.__"_

"_THE EVIDENCE IS CONCRETE, THE TRIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED, AND THE OVERALL VERDICT IS GUILTY. TODAY IS THE DAY YOUR SINS ARE MET WITH JUSTICE.__"_

The wall opposite of the one with a mirror split down the middle, and then started to open like two doors, revealing access to a hallway with white walls and ceiling and a gray floor, the length seeming to be almost infinite, with doors lining both sides of the hall.

"_NOW THE PUNISHMENTS SHALL BE ENACTED. JUDGEMENT DAY HAS BEGUN.__"_


	2. Familiar

Ivor decided that the person running this whole ordeal was completely and utterly crazy.

Guaranteed, they were definitely powerful, seeing as they somehow managed to teleport several people and empty them of their inventories, which made him slightly afraid of whatever these 'punishments' were.

But what kind of person wasted their time building an enormous hallway with what seemed to be hundreds of rooms, if they were all empty?

They had gone through forty-two rooms(since going through the hallway was really the only thing they could do at this point), all with walls and floors either all white or all grey, every single one with nothing in them, except for a single mirror on the wall opposite of the entrance. No chests. No wooden stairs. Just small, square rooms. It was starting to get aggravating.

It probably didn't help that Cassie Rose had, about twenty some rooms ago, came up with the idea to go back and check the empty rooms for hidden entrances. Which was actually a pretty good idea, but when Otto and Harper said they'd both go with her to 'help her find any possible hidden passages', well, he knew they were just using this as an opportunity to talk some things out. Which left him to go through the remain rooms. With Aiden.

The two didn't really speak to each other (What was there to talk about? They were trapped in some place waiting to be 'punished' for their 'sins', and they weren't exactly friends) unless they were saying a room was, like all the others, empty, and that wasn't exactly a conversation starter.

Ivor made his way to room number forty-three, and grumbled under his breath, "I swear if this is another empty room, I'm going to murder some one," as he placed his hand on the door handle(he was vaguely aware of Aiden scooching away from him, but really didn't care at this point). He swung the door open, expecting another empty, useless, room.

He was wrong.

The first thing he noticed was the desk at the opposite end of the room, and the second thing he noticed was that there was a second mirror on the wall left to the entrance.

Ivor stood there for a moment, blinking at the not-so empty room, before making his way over to the desk, Aiden following him. Noticing the papers on the desk, he picked up all three, and realized that the handwriting reminded him of Jesse's. Disturbed, he began to read.

The first letter told him nothing, besides that the person writing it had to learning how to use their hand again. And that they apparently hated writing.

He was about to start reading the second one when he heard Aiden say, "Why is there a book by Soren here?"

"What?" Ivor asked, and looked over at the books Aiden had in his hands. The book with the red cover, titled 'Commands of the Command Block', was indeed by Soren of all people. "One of these days I'm going to track down that man and I'm going to find out why his books are absolutely everywhere."

Aiden looked at him, bewildered, "Everywhere?"

Ivor waved him off, "Not important right now. What's the other book?"

Aiden, stilling looking confused from the Soren comment, glance at the blue book, "Apparently," he said, "It's called 'Tales of Tim the Legend', by somebody called Dealmaker?"

The memory of the games, Jesse's revelation that the hero all the competitors looked up to was all a lie created by the Old Builders, sent a shudder up his spine. But then, something fresher, swam up to the surface of his mind, and he said, "Wasn't Dealmaker what that voice said would be Otto's punishment?"

Aiden's eyes widened, "I thought it sounded familiar..." he said, "Wait, does that mean that the 'punishments' are people?"

Ivor rolled his eyes, "Well, monsters can't exactly write books now, can they? And if you want more details, then I suggest you read this," he shoved one of the letters into Aiden's hands, "because it's the only thing we have."

He read the second letter, which only confused him more, because despite having the exact same handwriting as the other letters, it sounded like it was from a completely different person. Not to mention that the basic gist of the letter seemed to be them moping over trying to befriend Aiden, and that they somehow seemed to know Lukas. If it hadn't been for the way it sounded, and for the signature at the bottom, he would've thought that Jesse could have written it.

"Hey, uh, Ivor?" Aiden said, a perplexed and slightly disturbed expression on his face, "I think you should read this. Besides the overall weirdness, there seems to be some kinda... wrong about? It could just be me, but I think you should check it out anyways."

Ivor took the paper from Aiden, "I suppose it couldn't hurt... oh, and I think you should read this one," he said, handing the letter to Aiden, "It seems like you've got an admirer, of sorts." Chuckling to himself as the younger spawn's eyes widened while reading the journal entry, he turned his eyes to the third and final letter. He read it, and then had to re-read it several times to process it.

"It's not just me, is it?" Aiden asked.

"No, it's not just you. But this- this is just to creepy. It goes from using far too many exclamation points to flat out threatening without any sort of transition," he placed the letter back on the table, "And there's also the fact that it says it's from Jesse, and it's to Axel and Olivia, and it's even in her handwriting- but it doesn't sound like her at all. In fact, none of these do, yet they're all in her handwriting!" Ivor groaned, hitting the palm of his hand against his head, "And we haven't learned anything about the challenges from these letters either- if anything I have even more questions now!"

Aiden opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't get the chance to.

Because the mirror in the left side of the room, at that moment, shattered.

And out stepped something that made Ivor's heart stop.

Ivor stared at the creature(or person? was it a person?), horror pulsing through his veins. Shadowy black tentacles surrounded around the thing, black staining their arms and face. All of that, with the glowing pink eyes, reminded Ivor of the Witherstorm he'd created so long ago. But the most terrifying thing?

It looked like Jesse.

By all means, it shouldn't. Their skin was a few shades too dark, their hair was braided and brown instead of black, and their clothes were all the wrong colors. Yet the familiar colored streak of hair, though red instead of yellow, and just _something_ about their face and body, all made Ivor want to call them Jesse(and oh gods, it took everything for him not to).

"You," their voice was raspy, but still sounded just like Jesse, (why did it sound like her, _it shouldn't sound like her_), their eyes set on Ivor, and he felt like their gaze was piercing his soul, "You _bastard_. Look what you've done to me!" their scream shakes Ivor to his core, but somehow, some way, he makes eye contact with Aiden.

They look at each other, and they know that there's only one thing they can do.

Run.


	3. Run (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Injuries relating to Throat, Chest, and Stabbing**

* * *

Ivor bolted out of the room, heart beating as the creature shrieked "_GET BACK HERE!_" and started to chase him.

He ran down the hallway, the doors zooming by him, but didn't last long before something caught his ankle and he fell to the ground. He tried to scramble up, but couldn't because black tendrils had wrapped around his limbs, keeping him trapped on the ground.

He heard footsteps behind him, and he was grabbed his robes, and thrown onto his back. He squeezed his eyes shut, tensing as the tendrils only tightened around his limbs.

"Do you even have the courage to look at me?" the creature said, and he had to force himself not to shake at the voice that sounded so much like Jesse's, and a clawed hand grabbed his face, "Look me in the eyes you _bastard_."

There was an angry cry, and Ivor's eyes flashed open to see Harper tackling the withering monster off him, Otto, Aiden, and Cassie following behind her.

"Cassie, find a weapon!" Otto shouted, the redhead running off as he and Aiden crouched besides Ivor to try and tear off the black tentacles trapping his limbs.

Harper and the Jesse-like creature struggled, the former holding up pretty well against the Witherstorm-esque beast. Harper tackled the creature to the ground, who snarled and said, "Get off me."

Otto and Harper froze, eyes wide, and her hesitance was enough for the creature to throw her off, and as it stood up, Harper spoke.

"Jesse?" she said, and the monster looked at her.

"Should I know you?" it said with a growl, but didn't give Harper a chance to answer as shadowy tendrils wrapped around her limbs and mouth. It turned it's gaze to Otto and Aiden, and flicking it's hand, grabbed them with tentacles and threw them into another room, slamming the door shut keeping it so with more dark tendrils, "I'm only here for one person, I'd rather not kill the rest of you."

Ivor tried to move, but could only let out a gasp as the tendrils tightened, and he could feel his blood pressure getting cut off.

"Ivor, Ivor, Ivor," the creature said, sneering as it knelt beside him, "Do you have _any idea_ how much I _hate_ you right now?"

"Why?" he found himself asking, "What did I ever do to you?"

"What?" the creature said, with a laugh, "Do you not recognize me, Ivor? Are you used to seeing me so ill that I couldn't even get out of bed? Can you not accept the fact that Jesse stands before you?"

"You're not Jesse," the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. The monster's eyes widened, then hardened, and then he found her hands around his throat and her claws digging into his flesh.

Ivor felt himself choking as she hissed at him, "No, no I'm not. And _you_ were the one who could've saved me. But you killed me instead!" her claws dug deeper into his skin, and something like an infection started pulsing through his veins, "You could have saved me Ivor. So _why didn't you_?"

He kept trying to breath, but it grew harder, and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to look into the enraged pink eyes of this insane monster. His mind started to feel blurry, and he only just noticed the sound of a door slamming open and footsteps running towards him.

A squelch, an unholy shriek erupted from the monster, and the claws torn from his neck, Ivor's eyes flashed open to see Cassie Rose, a sword in her hands that went straight through the monster's side, which lay on the ground shrieking and contorting, Cassie leaping away from the beast as it clawed at her.

Blood that seemed black and purple as opposed to red spewed from the creatures gut, sputtering out of it's screaming mouth as well. The dark tendrils writhed and squirmed, quickly losing their solidity around Ivor and Harper's limbs, and the door that Otto and Aiden had been trapped behind. The two burst out of their room, but froze and kept their distance from the thrashing monster on the ground.

Finally, the creatures breathing became shallow, and their body went limp. Ivor looked into it's pink and purple eyes, seeing them still filled with hatred. Then, it poofed, leaving behind only it's claw markings on the floor and the blood covered sword.

For a minute, no one spoke, unsure of what to say. Ivor wrapped his arms around himself, feeling oddly cold. Then, he looked to Cassie and in a hoarse voice asked, "Where did you get the sword?"

"It was in a chest- in a room with a shattered mirror, that lead into one with a desk."

"The one the monster came from?" Aiden asked, "Why would there be a sword there? Didn't the Judge want the monsters to kill us, not the other way around?"

"Could be a way of cleaning up their mess for them..." Harper said, but then her eyes widened and her face creased with worry, as she looked at Ivor, and she asked, "Ivor, are you okay? Your neck has got claw markings in it, and it looks purple."

Everybody looked to him, and Ivor leaned against the wall, his head and stomach spinning, and opened his mouth to say that he wasn't sure what was going on with him.

Then tentacles burst out of his chest.


	4. Burst (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Injuries relating to Chest, Stomach, and Throat. Lots of Blood, too. Please let me know if you feel more warnings are necessary.**

* * *

SQUELCH.

Aiden could only stare in horror at the sight before him.

The black tentacles that burst from Ivor's chest squirmed and writhed, splitting apart his flesh with the cracking of his bones and squelching of his flesh, somehow loud and pounding among Harper's earsplitting screams, the noise only growing louder as the black tentacles crawled out of his mouth as well.

Ivor convulsed and spasmed to the floor, hands flailing at his throat as he choked on the tentacles that sprouted from mouth and began to burst from his throat and tear that apart too. Blood splattered onto the floor, the walls, and by their feet, the number of tentacles only growing and tearing apart Ivor's body from the inside, exposing bone and flesh all in a mess of red and writhing black.

Then with one last convulsion, Ivor and the tentacles all vanished in a poof, leaving nothing behind but shredded, red-stained robes, and the blood that was splattered on the floor and dripping on the walls.

Harper fell to her knees, her hands clasped over her mouth as she let out a choked sob. Cassie and Otto stared at the pooling blood on the floor, horrified expressions plastered on their faces.

Aiden's body was numb, muscles frozen in place as he could only stare at where Ivor had once been, the memory of the tearing flesh and spurting blood burned into his mind.

Watching Ivor's crimson pool of blood begin to drip into the purple-black blood of the monster- the Malady, as the Judge had said- and mix into a different, darker, muddier shade, made a shuddering churning grow in his stomach and crawl up his throat.

He finally snapped away from the sight, one hand over his mouth as he gagged and tried not to puke, while his other hand tried to stabilize him against the wall.

The person in charge of this Judgement Day had successfully, and in an utterly horrific way, killed Ivor, mere minutes in.

What was in store for the rest of them here?


	5. Options

The room was silent.

Aiden sat in the corner of the room, arms wrapped around his knees as he tried to direct his mind to think of anything but Ivor's death.

Yet still the scene replayed in his head, over and over again- the blood, the burst, the poof leaving nothing but stained, tattered clothing...

He shuddered and tried not to puke.

He looked to the other side of the room, where the man in green, Otto, sat, the white-haired woman, Harper, her face buried in his shoulder so Aiden couldn't see her expression. Otto stared blankly, a glazed look in his eyes. Besides muttering something earlier about 'he's not respawning, he's gone forever', whatever that meant, he hadn't spoken a word.

Aiden shifted nervously, staring down at the ground again.

Footsteps caused his and Otto's head to snap towards the entrance, and Cassie Rose appeared in the doorway, the still bloody stone sword held tightly in her right hand.

"I checked the room," she said, returning the sword to her inventory, "and it's just as I thought. Besides the sword, there's nothing else in the chest."

Otto sighed and looked to the floor again, "So what should we do?"

Cassie crossed her arms, "Do you really need to ask? There's only one thing we can do- what we've been doing. Going through the hallway, and checking each room."

"What?" the words slipped out of Aiden's mouth before he could stop himself, and Cassie and Otto's gaze rested on him.

"There's not exactly anything else to do now, is there..." Cassie gestured to him, "...whatever your name is."

"Aiden. But why would you want to continue looking through these rooms," he stood up as he spoke, "when doing so was what resulted in Ivor's death?"

Cassie scoffed and said, "We're more prepared this time. Stop sounding so paranoid."

"Paranoid?" Aiden let out a nervous laugh, "Oh, because being worried about investigating the place that somebody designed to kill us off, already succeeding in killing somebody in a horrific way, is paranoid." 

"We didn't know what was coming, but we do now. And might I remind you that these 'punishments' are very capable of dying." she brought out the sword, "So I think we can defend ourselves just fine."

"Uh, you can defend yourself just fine. Didn't that voice say that you killed people?"

Cassie inhaled sharply, her body stiffening. Then, in a cold voice she said "Didn't the voice say you endangered an entire city?"

Aiden flinched, looking to ground, "It... wasn't my best moment."

"Oh boo hoo you regret it. My bet is that you," she jabbed at him, "are just too scared to face the 'Blaze' that the person in charge has set up to punish you."

"I mean," he said, "I'd rather not die. No, I should be serving my sentence in a jail cell- not dying in whatever horrific way the person in charge has planned!"

"For the record," Otto said, causing Cassie and Aiden to look at him, "I think that Cassie is right about the hallway. Even if we didn't have Ivor's death to worry about, no one has any food. So if we decided to just wait it out..." he trails off, then continues with, "And who says that, should we stay here, they won't just send the 'Punishments' after us, instead of waiting for us to come to them?"

Aiden let out a groan, burying his face in his hands, "...Shit, it really is our only option."

Otto's features softened, "Your fear is legitimate, Aiden. But the person who designed this Judgment Day seems to be very clever, as they clearly know what they're doing, well enough to have forced us into this corner." he sighed, "The only thing we can do is continue on and hope that we find some way to get out."

"So," Cassie put her hands on her hips, "we're going with my plan, then? Continue searching the rooms?"

"Before we go, actually," everyone froze and looked to Harper as she sat up slowly, her eyes red and swollen from crying, "I think that Cassie and Aiden should go through rooms together. She's the one with, and most adept at wielding, the sword, and if Aiden is the next target..." she rubbed at her face, "It's best to be prepared."

For a minute, nobody spoke. Harper didn't add on anything, curling in on herself and looking at the ground. Finally, Otto looked back at Aiden and Cassie and said, "I agree with Harper... better safe than sorry in this situation. I assume you two would be willing to comply?"

Cassie shrugged, "I'd rather not," she glared at Aiden, "but sure."

Otto stood up, then helping Harper up as well, "Then let's not waste anymore time. Let's go see what these other rooms have in store for us."


	6. Netherrack

Aiden should've known better than to hope.

They had checked about thirty rooms so far, and all of them had been the same generic mold- empty and gray, save for a single mirror. So for a brief few minutes, he'd allowed himself to hope that maybe he wouldn't have to face this 'Blaze' punishment.

Then Otto opened the door to another room, and Harper said, "Oh no."

Aiden felt his blood run cold, and he turned around and asked, "What is it?"

"The floor's made of Netherrack."

"What? Let me see." Cassie nudged passed Harper, drawing her sword and entering the room. "Holy shit it is."

Aiden's nerves prickled, and he walked into the room to see it for himself.

Sure enough, while the walls were still gray and there was still the mirror at the other end of the room, the floor was made entirely of netherrack- the sight of the red mottled rock which could allow fire to burn indefinitely made his stomach churn. He shuddered, then his gaze drifted to the ceiling.

It went up so high that he couldn't even see where it ended. The walls disappeared into darkness, although a kind of yellowish glow that made out some rectangular shape, most likely a kind of platform.

Dread filled his body, and his heart began to thump rapidly. "We should go," he said, looking at Cassie, who stood by the mirror, her sword still drawn.

She opened her mouth, but whether to agree or disagree he'd never know, because something landed with a THUMP on the ground in front of the door, and the edges of the floor erupted into flames, covering the walls.

And Aiden couldn't breathe.

'Blaze' was the only appropriate name for his punishment. The flames that lit the room shone on golden skin, and a dark red patch that took up his neck and spread to his face. The blaze rods that hovered around him seemed to be sharpened, and yellow pupils glowed against the dark red that took up the rest of his eyes.

The scariest part though, was that this creature looked eerily similar to Jesse.

Because despite being a different gender, despite having hair the wrong color and length, even wearing a completely different outfit, it took everything Aiden had not to call this creature Jesse.

Then the Blaze smirked, revealing sharp fangs.

"Hello, Aiden," he said, the growling hiss of his voice sending shudders up Aiden's spine. "_Remember me?_"


	7. Flames (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Injuries relating to Burns and Slices**

* * *

Cassie acted first, her sword raised as she yelled and charged at Blaze.

Her blade clashed into sharpened rods, and Blaze scowled at her.

"I don't know," he said, continuing to dodge her attacks, "who you are, but this man is not worth defending." the sharpened rods clanged against the sword again.

"And I should just stand by and let you kill him?" she snapped back at him, swinging her blade at his neck.

He leaped backwards, and floated off the ground, "I don't have time for this," he snarled, flying towards her.

Cassie sliced at him, and Aiden had to scramble away as Blaze skidded near him, growling and hissing like the mob.

Aiden stared at the creature, and then he met his eyes.

He only just managed to leap out of the way as fire erupted from Blaze's hand, landing on the ground just next to the flames blocking the doorway. The room was growing hot, and the flames that flickered across the netherrack were reducing space.

Cassie's blade and Blaze's sharpened rods clashed again. She swung at his stomach, but he leaped back, then floating upwards, he kicked her in the chest.

She slammed onto the ground, the sword falling out of her hand. Aiden stared, horrified, but then Blaze grabbed him by his shirt, and he stared into the red and yellow eyes of the monster, pain and anger reflected in them.

"You have a lot to answer for," he hissed at him.

"What- what did I do?" the words slipped out of Aiden's mouth, shaking with fear.

Blaze growled, "What did you d-" his eyes widen, and letting go of Aiden he turns rapidly to block Cassie's blade.

"I'm going to kill you!" she shouts, a look of pure fury on her face as she fights Blaze, hers swings now far fiercer and far more aggressive.

Aiden scrambles away from the heated duel, but Blaze kept throwing flames at Cassie, restricting the not on fire portions of the room, till there was only a few blocks of space left, the flames dancing and growing higher, and the heat growing near unbearable.

Then, as he just barely dodges one of Blaze's flying rods, Cassie's sword swings at him.

The blade cuts through his his flesh, and Aiden falls to the floor screaming, clutching at his face, blood dripping through his fingers.

Cassie lets out an exclamation, distracted for a brief moment. And that's all that Blaze needs to tackle her, sending her into the flames. Her high pitched screams seem to echo around the room, and Aiden can only stare horrified into the flames, now so tall he can't even tell where the mirror is or where the door used to be, crackling and dancing like they were taunting him.

He didn't have time to worry when her screams stopped, though, because Blaze grabbed him by the neck, slamming him onto his back. He gasped in pain from the heat of the hand wrapped around his neck.

"Well, it seems the red-head started my job for me," he said, and Aiden squirmed helplessly as he placed another hand on his face, right on the enormous slice on his face, "Why don't I finish it?" and then his hands began to burn.

Aiden screamed as his face burned, thrashing uselessly as the scent of his own burning flesh began to choke him, his throat burning and going raw all at once.

Then it stopped. His vision was hazy from pain, and tears streamed down his face.

"You wanted to know what you did to me?" Blaze's growling voice asks, "I guess that means you don't recognize the man you stabbed in the gut. Which means, "the haze in his vision started to fade, and he saw pain in Blaze's eyes, "that you don't know I'm Jesse."

His head pounds, the smell of smoke and burnt flesh -his burnt flesh- is strong, but still, Aiden finds himself saying, "You're not Jesse. She defeated me- I didn't stab her!"

The scowl returns to the Blaze's face, "Well I'm not exactly Jesse anymore but-" then he stops, and a look of confusion replaced his scowl. "Wait... she?"

He becomes silent, and Aiden only sits there, his face still in pain and still feeling incredibly warm. For a moment, the only sound he can hear is the roaring flames. Then Blaze's eyes widen, and he stands up abruptly, a face of dawning realization.

"You're a different one," he says, and then water splashes into the room.


	8. Burns (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Injuries relating to Burns and Slicing **

* * *

The water flowed into the room, dousing out half the flames as Cassie entered, sword in hand.

Her skin stung, the heat was sweltering, and rage burned within her like boiling lava as she looked at Blaze, who stood in the center of the room. Anger flooded through her as she shouted and charged.

The monster looked at her, eyes widening in shock and dodging just a second too late. Her blade sliced through flesh and cloth, and the creature let out a roar of agony, clutching at the large gash in his right arm, hissing in pain.

Anger pulsing through her veins, she swung again at him, but found her sword blocked by the golden rods. She struck again and again, wanting her sword to cut through bone, but it kept being met with air or golden rods. Her anger grew fiercer as her skin stung, and she stabbed at the Blaze once more.

Her blade clashed against the golden rods, but just as she was about to swing again, the monster rapidly flew upwards.

She tensed herself for an attack, but he only flew up into the tall ceiling. She stared wide-eyed as he landed on a platform above, then disappearing.

"GET BACK HERE!" she shrieked at him, her blood roaring in her ears and sweat beading down her body from the sweltering heat.

"Cassie!" she whipped around to see Harper, Aiden leaning on her for support, "We need to go!"

"But the-" Cassie's eyes widen when she looks at Aiden's face, "Holy _shit_."

Burns, raw and bloody, covered a large portion of his neck and creeped up the right side of his face in the rough shape of a hand. The large slash in his cheek was black, looking like it was rotting. The rancid scent of burnt flesh reached her nose, and she almost gagged.

He looked up, and seeing Cassie, his eyes widened, "You're alive?" he said voice raspy from the smoke, then burst into a fit of coughing.

They all headed through the door, Harper and Aiden at a slower pace, when there was the sound of a loud _crack_, and Cassie froze in the doorway, spinning around and looking into the flames. "What was that?"

"The heat probably cracked the mirror! Cassie, go!" Harper said, and after a moment of hesitation, she did so.

Once they entered the hallway, Aiden stumbled, and Harper gently sat him on the floor.

"How are you still alive?" she asked him, gently touching the not-burnt side of his face.

Aiden didn't reply at first, just breathing shallowly, but then he looked at Cassie, and his brows furrowed. "Is your skin... red?"

Cassie's fists clenched, and she snapped at him, "That thing threw me threw a wall of fire. I'm not exactly going to be just fine now am I?"

He looked to the ground, then opened his mouth to say something else, but didn't get the chance to because of a clunking sound, then another following immediately after it.

She looked back to the room with the netherrack floor, but shock filled her when she saw the entrance had disappeared. There was nothing but wall where the doorway had been, as if somebody had blocked it off.

Except there had been nobody to block it off.

For a minute, nobody spoke, the only sound being Aiden's breathing slowly becoming more stable now that he was out of the smoke-filled room.

Finally, Harper said, "I think we should rest before we move on."

Cassie nodded, her skin still stinging, but her body cold. "Agreed."


	9. Bleeding (GORE)

**Gore warning: Blood, Stabbed in Wrist**

* * *

His hands shook, even as he grabbed at his head, which ached from where he'd been slammed into the wall.

Slammed by the Blaze.

Which didn't make sense- the flaming Punishment was supposed to kill Aiden, and then get killed by the others.

So why had he stopped?

Why he had attacked them instead?

"Dealmaker."

The sound of his name made him finally look up from the floor.

And he could only stare.

The Judge was bleeding.

They had blood.

It spilled down their face from a crack in their silver mask. It dripped down the edge of the sharpened rod embedded in their gauntlet. Crimson blood, dripping down them.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

It made him uncomfortable.

On the occasion Dealmaker had seen people bleed- the inevitable death of the Games, or when he had to take care of somebody for Hadrian-, there was always something that tugged at him uncomfortably. Because blood was a human thing.

In a way, it was the strongest reminder that somebody was human. That they had emotions, thoughts, desires. That he'd just ripped a life away from them.

It should have made him think the same of the Judge. Finally convinced him that under that great 'Judge of all things' facade, the mastermind who'd created this Judgement Day scenario was really just human.

But it didn't.

Instead, it only made him afraid.

Because blood meant people were hurt. That they were in pain. And most people showed this. Most people cried out, most flinched, most curled up. Some people even died.

But the Judge?

They held out their hand, and the shimmering lights on the circle of their gauntlet's palm glowed. With a buzzing sound, the flames in the room beyond the window of the one-way mirror were devoured by pure white pixels in seconds.

Then the Judge looked to their hand, the golden rod sticking out. It seemed painful. It had to hurt. Taking it out would be even worse.

The Judge used their freed hand to yank it out, leaving a gaping hole in their gauntlet and flesh. They didn't cry out. Didn't shift their face. Didn't even flinch.

The Judge was bleeding, yet didn't react to it at all. As if they didn't feel pain.

It terrified him.

The panels of the gauntlet glowed, and with a glitchy-sounding buzz, white pixels flashed across the Judge's face.

They turned to Dealmaker. The large crack that had been in their mask, from when Blaze had thrown them into the mirror, was gone. The blood still remained.

And fury burned in their eyes.

"Dealmaker," the Judge said, their voice still sounding monotonous and inhuman, despite the rage in their eyes, the blood dripping down their face, and the gaping hole in their hand.

Fear pulsed through his veins, his body cold, and tension gripped his muscles tight. He gulped, and managed to say, "Yes, Master Judge?" and realized that, for the first time in years, his voice was wavering.

"Find the Blaze. He is clearly hostile, and we can't have him interfering with the other Punishments, or any other aspect of my plans."

Realizing that he was still sitting on the floor, Dealmaker stood up, shakily. He tried regaining control of his face and voice as he replied, "Of course, Master Judge." He wasn't about to argue with their orders right now.

"Good. I have other plans I have to handle, what with this... unexpected turn of events." The panels glowed again, and Dealmaker felt something drop into his inventory.

It seemed it would take more than a rogue Punishment to destroy a gauntlet with the power of a Command Block.

The Judge said, "I know your fighting skills are most likely a little rusty, however you're going to need that to kill the rogue Punishment, and with that," they turned and walked towards the door, "I will take my leave."

The Judge left the room, leaving a trail of blood drops behind, smeared by their swishing black cloak. Once the Judge's footsteps were out of earshot, Dealmaker pulled the weapon out of his inventory.

The blue diamond blade shimmered with enchantments, and while he wasn't sure with what, sharpness seemed to be at least one of them. He took in a deep breath, steadying himself, and once he'd cleared the image of the Judge bleeding painlessly out of his mind, he stepped into the secret hallway that enabled him and the Judge to go into and observe any room via the two-way mirrors.

Then he started to search for Blaze.


	10. Stormed

**Gore Warning: Descriptions of Burns**

* * *

Cassie paced back and forth, rubbing her upper arms. Her skin had stopped stinging, for the most part, and her rage had finally calmed a bit. But now there was a nauseous feeling in her stomach, a tightness in her muscles, and a feeling of dread that spread over her whole body.

She hadn't been all that worried about the Punishments before-hand. Although Ivor had died, Cassie had managed to kill his Punishment, 'Malady' or whatever it was called, with relative ease. So she'd expected something around the same level of difficulty for the Blaze.

She looked over to Aiden again, who was tensing as Harper dabbed at his face with a wet make-shift rag. The burns, raw and red, only reminded Cassie of how stupid of an assumption that had been.

"Is this really necessary?" Aiden asked, wincing as Harper only continued.

"Aiden, these wounds are serious, they really should be treated better- with potions of healing_ and_ regeneration. Hell, I'm not even sure if this will help much, but it's the best we got," Harper said, dipping the rag back into the bucket of water, "considering our situation. Now, hold still-"

Something suddenly burst to the surface of Cassie's memory, now that her rage had calmed and she looked over the scene with the Blaze with a critical eye. Stopping in her tracks, she looked at Aiden and asked "Why did he stop attacking you?"

Aiden's head turned as he stared bewildered at Cassie, "Wait- me?" he said as Harper turned his head back to her.

"No, the purple elephant in the room," she replied scowling. She crossed her arms and then continued "When I came in there, that Blaze didn't have you pinned onto the floor burning your face off. No, it was standing in the middle of the room. Not doing anything but staring at you. Considering that it seemed to have a pretty intense murder-boner for you when I got thrown through the flames, it seems pretty damn odd that it would be _not_ killing you the next time I went in there."

Aiden only stared at her for a moment, then said, "I'm not sure why he stopped burning me, but I know he really wanted to kill me because he though I stabbed him in Sky City-" he winced as Harper started rubbing on a spot, "-please be more gentle, and... he also said that he was Jesse."

Harper froze, hand stopping mid-motion. "That's what the other one said."

Cassie looked at her. "What?"

"The 'Malady'- the one that..." Harper trailed off, but after taking in a gulp of air she said "the one that killed Ivor. She also said," she looked the the ground, "that she was Jesse."

"But we know that neither of them were Jesse," Otto finally spoke, drawing everybody's attention to where he stood in the corner, arm's crossed and brows furrowed, "Especially the fire one, since he's, well, a male. So why would they both think they were Jesse?"

"There was another weird thing, also," Aiden said, bringing his arms up to almost hug himself, "When he said he was Jesse, I said he couldn't be, and that I didn't stab her... he stepped back into the center of the room, and said 'You're a different one'." He looked to the ground. "I don't know what he meant though."

"Well," Harper said, going back to dabbing at Aiden's burns, "if he thinks that he's Jesse and that you killed him, but you don't know him as Jesse, then maybe he thinks that there's another Aiden that killed him? If that makes sense?"

Cassie growled, throwing up her arms. "Does it matter? Whatever- we've wasted enough time."

"Wasted?" Harper said, looking at her and continuing with "I'm trying to treat Aiden's burns, because these are really, really not good. And what exactly is our time so 'precious' for that we're wasting it?"

Cassie gestured to the door. "We're wasting time that could be used, I don't know, going through the hallway?" she said. Everybody stared at her, and she scowled. "Oh don't look at me like that. The sooner we go through this hallway, the sooner we can get out of here."

"Or the sooner we die!" Aiden said, eyes wide.

"If we just sit here and wait, we'll die!" she snapped, then yanked out her sword and stormed towards the door, "I for one am not going to just sit and wait here. I'm going to confront my Punishment, this Haunted, head on."

"Alone?" Harper bolted up, almost knocking over the bucket of water. "You can't just rush into a situation like that, Cassie. We need some kind of plan."

"A plan?" Cassie said, letting out a deranged laugh. "You can't plan for something you don't know anything about! I'm going to go blindly into a situation designed to kill me, no matter what we do. So you know what? Screw it!" she said, walking backwards into the hallway. "I'm going to get this over with. I'm going to find this Haunted, take it head-on, and defeat it. Because," she snarled, "it will never be said that Cassie Rose just sat by to let herself die."

And with that, she stormed off into the hallway.


	11. Hiding

This wasn't happening.

It's the thought that whirls through Stampy's head as his heart pounds and his skin sweats, his body curled in on himself, his breathing rapid as his clammy hands pulled his hood over his head, and he was shaking.

This wasn't happening.

A scream erupts from nowhere, echoing through out the rooms, chilling him to his bones. Laughter, terrible, maniacal laughter sounds as the screaming chokes away. Then everything goes quiet again.

Stampy curls up against himself tighter, his back pressing into the back of the wooden couch so hard it's painful. Darkness surrounds him, but he knows what room this is.

It's the library from the Mansion.

It's the same room Lizzie died in.

The same room he might die in.

The thought of that caused another stab of fear, and it takes everything he has not to whimper and burst into tears right then and there. He couldn't make a sound. He had to hide.

This wasn't happening.

Maybe it was all just a bad dream, he told himself as he shook with fear, sweat drenching his body and seeping through his clothes. The trauma of the White Pumpkin events was causing him to have nightmares.

This couldn't be happening. It was just a bad dream.

There was the creaking of a door. Dread flooded through Stampy as light flooded into the room.

"Is anybody here?" a voice, growling yet cooing spoke. "Any more Sinners I have to deal with?"

The door creaked again, and the room went dark. Stampy clasped his hands over his mouth, trying not to whimper.

"Here kitty kitty~" the voice taunted. The footsteps got louder, along with the sound of wood hitting against flesh, like somebody toying with a weapon. "Come out and play~"

A bout of laughter, hysterical, maniacal laughter sounded, and it took everything he had to not scream in terror.

"I saw you come in here! _I know you're here Stampy!_" Rage filled the monsters voice and something slammed into the wooden floor, sounding a splinter and a strangled cry to escape from Stampy's mouth.

Everything went silent. There were no footsteps. There was no sound of wood hitting against the palm of somebody's hand.

Stampy's heart pounded in his head, and his hands were shaking so violently that they seemed to not be there at all. Something was choking him in his throat, and his stomach churned like a violent storm.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. _He wasn't going to die._

A hand slams into wood, and his head snaps to the side.

Glowing yellow eyes stare at him, and a fanged grin seems to gleam.

"And the seeker wins again." There's the shine of a diamond ax, blood staining it's blade.

Stampy can only scream.


	12. Trap

Cassie slammed the door shut, the room being as empty as all the others, but it lacked the force she used on the other seven.

She knew that she was probably being stupid.

The last two Punishments had both come from rooms in the hallway, and here she was going through every single room of it. By herself.

She searched another room, her thoughts swimming around in her head. _I had a reason to shout out like that. This is a stressful situation we're in where our very lives are in danger. Ivor himself even died right in front of us._Discovering nothing, she started to search another room. _It makes sense that I'd be emotional. It's justified that I'd lash out. It's justified that I'd be scared._

She froze in the doorway, one step outside of the room.

She was scared.

She had killed the first Punishment, the 'Malady', fairly easily, and so she hadn't been all that scared of the future Punishments. Yes Ivor's death was disturbing, but she was used to death. Guaranteed not death by tentacles exploding out of ones body, but still, she was used to people dying, even at her own hands(even if she sometimes heard their screams in her sleep). So she hadn't been scared then.

Even the idea of the 'Blaze' hadn't scared her all that much. Sure she had a tougher time fighting him, but she had still been certain that she'd win. That she'd kill it.

But a brief moment of distraction was all it took for it to throw her through the flames.

The sting of her skin had grown faint, but the memory of the flames surrounding her was enough to make her wince and continue going through the hallway, continuing her search of the rooms.

If her getting thrown into flames by that unnatural creature wasn't enough, she hadn't even managed to kill him. Which meant that the thing that had held it's own against her and then had proceeded to burn half of Aiden's face off was still roaming somewhere around this place.

And if that was the Punishment designed for Aiden, that meant the Punishment designed for her would also likely be difficult. Maybe her Punishment would try to fight her not only in a physical fight, but also a mental one. Maybe it would have her wits and knowledge of redstone.

She shuddered at the thought, then opened another door and looked into the room.

_I really should go back and regroup with the others,_ she thought to herself as she left the room, continuing onto the next one.

_But what can they do? I made my points pretty clear. There is only one weapon, and probably the most adept at using it as well. Otto was never a fighter, and Harper... well, she's not _bad_, she did tackle that one Punishment earlier, but she's still not the greatest with a sword._

Going room after room, they started to blur into a pattern. Enter a room, check for any hidden entrances, then when nothing was found exit and close the door again.

_I'm not so sure about that Aiden guy, but he's got those burns of his, so even if he was a good fighter, he'd likely be limited by his injury. Also, Harper wanted to make a plan? Seriously? What kind of plan could we make? There's not exactly a door at the end of the hallway that we could just skip to, and considering there doesn't seem to be a pattern with these 'Punishments', how can we make a plan for fighting them? And Otto already made points earlier about why we couldn't just sit around and wait... I hate the person in charge of this place, but I have to admit that they're good at backing us into a corner._

She shuddered and shook off the thoughts, opening the door to her twentieth room. She sighed as she stared at the blank gray walls and her own reflection in the mirror across from her, but entered anyways to check if the room had any hidden entrances.

And two steps in, the floor disappeared beneath her feet.

Cassie screamed as she fell.


	13. Scream (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Blood, Witness to Murder, Injures relating to Back and Ankle**

* * *

Cassie fell for a, thankfully short, period of time before she landed with a splash into water.

She surfaced quickly, gasping, finding a ledge quickly and climbing out, sitting on her hands and knees for a moment while she coughed and reclaimed her breath. Then, even though her body was still shaking, she stood up and looked at the dimly lit room.

And her blood went cold as she saw the portraits of the Youtubers who's faces were all too familiar(but TorqueDawg and the 'New Order of the Stone' were missing, she noticed). She spun around the room, their judgmental stares looking down at her. Then she grew even colder when she realized that though most of them looked just like her pictures, some of them had differences in them.

The picture of LDShadowLady, or 'Lizzie' as the woman had always preferred, was no longer standing on a block of TNT in her picture, but rather an enormous spider, and webbing spread over her body like a net. Captain Sparklez had sand covering him, spilling off of his arm and entangled in his hair.

Stampy however, had to be the most disturbing of all. In his picture, he held the glowing green flint and steel in his hands, and a bloody red streak covered his eyes, along with 'GUILTY' spelled in large, also red, underlined letters.

Her stomach churned, and suddenly the room, even if it was actually quite large, seemed to be shrinking in on her, and she could practically feel the glares of the Youtubers in the pictures, those of the dead most prominent of all.

She noticed a door on one side of the room, and she all but ran towards it, peeking in to make sure nobody was there. There seemed to be another set of doors in the next room, with bright light streaming out of them, and she could see something that looked like the end of a dining room table and a chair, but otherwise, the room seemed empty.

Opening the door slowly so it wouldn't creak, she cautiously entered the room, bringing out her stone sword, just in case. She looked to the right, and saw that she was right about the dining room table, though it only had two chairs, each on opposite ends. She followed the empty dining room table, and looked up at the wall at the end of it.

There was another portrait there.

But this time, it wasn't somebody she recognized. It was a man with a sort of mixed skin tone, his hair and eyes a shade of dark brown. He had on a black shirt and yellowish brown pants, with bright green suspenders. There was a red line that looked suspiciously like blood painted across his neck, but that wasn't what disturbed her.

What disturbed her was how this stranger reminded her of Jesse.

She walked towards the portrait, sword still in hand, wondering who the hell this was, why somebody who looked nothing like Jesse was so reminiscent of her, and what kind of secrets it held, because there was no way that this portrait was out of place for no reason. There was clearly something important about it.

She finally reached the portrait, and making sure that there weren't any pressure plates or tripwires set in front of it, she reached towards it.

Then a scream erupted from nowhere, and she turned rapidly towards the doors with the light coming through them.

The doors swung open as a girl crashed through them, and she landed on the ground with a loud thud. Blood covered her, matted in her long brown hair and staining her clothes. She scrambled to her feet, but fell to the floor again with a cry, and Cassie realized that one of her ankles was twisted at an unnatural angle.

Cassie stood, frozen, unsure of whether to help the girl or to run from what she was running from, but then a shadow appeared in the light that spread from the now open doors.

A figure stood in the doorway, with a diamond axe that looked all too familiar gleaming. The girl let out another scream, trying to scramble away with terror on her face, but the figure lunged for her, and the axe struck true.

For a moment, the blade was embedded in the girls chest, blood spurting out of her chest and mouth, an expression of horror on her face and her dying scream silenced. Then she poofed, leaving behind only a bloodstained leather jacket and the one who'd killed her.

Cassie stood there, frozen, her stomach churning in disgust and fear as the figure picket up the jacket, head tilted to the side. Then the figure turned and looked directly at her.

Yellow and black eyes stared at her, and Cassie had to force herself not to scream.

The creature that stood there was horrific.

Blood stained it's clothing and was splattered across it's hands and weapon. It's eyes were pitch black with glowing yellow pupils, the white husk of a pumpkin fused to it's face and entwining with it's skin.

And to top it all off, it was the very man, the one who reminded her of Jesse even though he shouldn't, in the portrait that Cassie stood in front of.

Only he had been turned into a horrific monster that had a death(probably several) on it's hands.

This had to be her Punishment- the Haunted.

For a moment, she and the creature only stared at each other. Her heart hammered in her chest, and a grin slowly came to the creature's face.

Then it burst into a bought of maniacal laughter, it's mouth opening wide and revealing sharpened teeth.

"Cassie Rose!" it said, spreading it's arms and opening the hand that didn't hold the axe, "How_ wonderful _to see you again!"


	14. Thoughts

Blaze was aware that now was really not the time for an internal crisis.

There was a large slash in his right arm and sleeve thanks to that red-headed chick, even if it had cauterized itself(being part blaze did that, apparently), he had attacked the Judge, who had powers that he didn't know the limits of and almost definitely knew this place inside and out, and even if he didn't have them to worry about, they were definitely at least sending Dealmaker, who was apparently another version of him and likely also had powers, after him.

So really, crouching in the corner next to a table and curled in on himself and questioning his identity was the last thing he should be doing.

And yet here he was.

He let out a frustrated hiss, running his hands through his hair. He's being stupid. Of course he's Jesse. He was before, and the only difference is that he's got a slightly different skin tone. And that he can set things on fire spontaneously. And that he has five extra mini-limbs. And that he died. And that he could probably kill people now.

He'd almost killed Aiden.

Who was apparently both the same and yet a different Aiden from the one he knew.

That fact had been what started this whole internal crisis in the first place.

Because if Aiden was the Aiden he knew, but he knew a different, female version of him, and she had won against him...

Did that mean there was a way he could've survived that encounter?

Surely, if another version of him had won against Aiden, he could have won against him as well.

He leaned his head against the wall, staring up at the gray(_everything_ in this stupid, terrible place was gray) ceiling.

If that was true, then what did that say about his abilities? Did that mean that the female version of him was a better fighter than him? Or had he just had too much faith in his abilities?

He wouldn't have called himself the best at sword-fighting, but he had always liked to consider himself good at it. After all, there had to be some reason that he could hold his own against Petra in sword fight- oh god.

She thought he was dead.

It's a thought that sends a jolt through his body.

Yeah, he had _been_ dead(not that he could remember it), and they had probably grieved, but he wasn't dead anymore. Did that mean that, hypothetically, he could see them again?

He felt two of his rods bump into something, and looking up he realized that he'd accidentally floated them into the wall. He pulled them all around himself again, trying to minimize the amount of area he glowed(he really wished there was a way he could not do that) and almost let out a bitter laugh as he returned to his previous thought.

Of course he could never see them again.

Even if he did manage to find them again, what then? By the time he managed to find them again they would have(hopefully) moved on from his death. They should be getting on with their lives, without him. Him returning would just screw up everything, get in the way of the new lives they had formed without him.

And even if that wasn't something to worry about, was he really _Jesse_ anymore?

Besides having some pretty scary mob features(that would definitely frighten them) and some equally scary abilities(he'd burned half of Aiden's face off, _oh god_), he also didn't really feel like 'Jesse' anymore.

He was more susceptible to killing others now(he had definitely been trying to kill the Judge when he threw them into the mirror, after all), which brought up some uncomfortable moral thoughts, and personality wise... well that he hadn't analyzed that part of him yet, but he was definitely more pessimistic than before, at the very least.

Which lead him to another question: Even if he did manage to escape whatever this Judgment Day hell-place was, what would he do then?

But that was a question he didn't get time to ponder on.

Because at that moment, the door to the room opened, letting light flood in and revealing a figure wearing a blue plaid suit, wielding an enchanted diamond blade.

Dealmaker tilted his head to the side, a smile on his face "Well, if it isn't the Blaze."


	15. Lying

Dealmaker smirked as he saw the Blaze's eyes widen in fear, the Punishment curled up in a ball with his back pressed against the wall. But although his body tensed and his rods spun slowly, he didn't attack.

Alright, that wasn't what he'd expected. Time for plan B then.

He slipped the sword into his inventory(but it was still only a slot away, just in case), raising his hands slowly in a surrendering gesture. "Hey, don't look so scared. I'm not gonna hurt you," he said, doing what he did best.

Lying his ass off.

The Blaze's rods began to spin, though slowly(Dealmaker made sure that he kept an eye on all), his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Not attacked yet, Dealmaker continued talking, saying "Okay, now I know that you have your rights to be suspicious of me-"

"Damn right I do," the Blaze snarled, "considering how closely you work with the Judge themself." The rods began to spin slightly quicker, "Let me guess- they sent you here to kill me."

"Well..." he tilted his head back and forth a little, making sure to pause for just the right amount of time before saying "I admit that yeah, they kinda did. But just because they gave me those orders, doesn't mean I have to follow them." He let just a hint of a smirk come to his face as he saw the pace of the spinning rods begin to slow again.

The Blaze was still clearly suspicious, his body still tensed, but hesitantly asked "What would make you, the man who so proudly announced himself as the Judge's 'right-hand man', suddenly decide to go against them?"

"Um, did you really think that anybody could be so happy to work for a complete and utter psychopath?" Dealmaker asked, dripping a false, nervous tingle into his voice, "Because being honest here, I'm actually terrified of them. Like, they made you into, well, that," he titled his head to gesture, not yet lowering his hands, "and you're not the only one in this facility who they did that to."

The Blaze's eyes shot wide open, the rods hovering still. "I'm not?" he asked.

Dealmaker made his smile just a little sadder. "You noticed those other people who came in for Aiden, like the red-head, that the Judge didn't tell you to kill? Or rather, didn't tell you about at all? Yeah," he said as fear flickered across the Blaze's face, "there was an individual 'Punishment' for each of them. You were just meant to kill Aiden. But then you didn't," he let his laugh be nervous, made sure his face looked slightly scared, "and then you attacked the Judge, which pissed them off immensely. So I hate to break it to you, but you're kinda screwed?" He didn't lower his hands, but did small gestures with them as he spoke.

The Blaze remained quiet for a moment, eyes glazed over as he became lost in thought, and then slowly, he said "You're scared, and want me to help you escape."

Dealmaker held back his flinch(that was _not_ the impression he'd been going for) and instead had his eyes widen and painted shock onto his face. "What? No!" he said, making sure his words sounded fast-paced and panicked, "I can do just fine here on my own, right-hand man and all that. No, I'm worried about you. Like, the Judge brought you back to life once, who's to say they won't do it again? Just to torment you for attacking them and not managing to kill Aiden? Seriously," he let a worried expression onto his face, "I just want to help you. Will you let me do that?"

For a moment, nothing changed. The Blaze's eyes were squinted in suspicion, his rods beginning to vibrate, despite being still.

But finally, the Punishment's body relaxed, the suspicion that had been in his eyes now fading away, and Dealmaker let an awkward smile come to his face as he finally lowered his hands.

Then the Blaze leaped at him, pure instinct the only reason he drew his blade just in time to swipe aside the golden rods that flew at him, the clang still ringing in his ears as he jumped to the side to avoid the Blaze's tackle.

Time to return to plan A.

He swung the blade towards the Blaze's exposed back, but was met again with three golden rods, and he tried to sweep at his legs once he ducked another sharpened rod flying towards him, but the Blaze leaped back from him just on time.

The fight continued, Dealmaker's blade always being matched with either thin air or a make-shift shield of blaze rods, but it was only so long before the Blaze stumbled, tired from his earlier fight and the large slash wound in his arm, and finally, he managed to get his sword almost to the Punishment's neck, only just being held back by the golden rods, but they were starting to weaken, and the blade inched closer to the Blaze's neck.

Dealmaker smirked, looking the Blaze in his eyes, which were wide and had a glimpse of fear shining in them. "You know," Dealmaker said, letting a chuckle come to him as the blade got close enough to brush against flesh, "you have some pretty good fighting skills, I gotta admit."

The fear in the Blaze's eyes were replaced by an emotion he couldn't quite place until the Punishment looked him dead and the eyes and said "Thank you. Petra always did compliment me on them."

The name caused Dealmaker's body to freeze, imagery of the red-headed warrior coated in her own blood flashing before his eyes and her screams of "_TRAITOR_", raw and pain-filled, echoing in his ears.

His moment of hesitance was all the Blaze needed to kick him onto the ground, the sword flying out of his hands as his head slammed into the floor, making the world around him spin and grow fuzzy.

He laid there for a moment while the Blaze fled, gasping as his head throbbed and he forced the memories away again. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, though it took him longer than he would've liked, grabbing the sword and running out into the hallway to find the Blaze standing before a locked iron door, Dealmaker's eyes widening as he recognized it as one of the few rooms the Judge hadn't let him enter, flames burning brightly on the hand that lay on the lock of the door.

Dealmaker ran towards the Blaze again, but once again his blade clanged against golden rods. His head thumped and his vision spun, but he still kept trying to attack the Punishment, though he kept missing and being blocked, again.

"I thought you'd be down longer," the Blaze's voice taunted him, only worsening the pounding in his head as he tried to keep painful memories from resurfacing, "you seemed pretty upset there for a moment. Were you closer to her than I was?"

"Shut up!" Dealmaker hissed, right before the Punishment threw him away and forced him to stumble backwards, clutching his head, the world spinning around him.

He looked up and prepared to strike at the Blaze again, sweat drenching his skin and pain throbbing in his head, but he was frozen for a moment in horror as the iron door gave way, the lock melted from the flames that now flickered out on the Blaze's hand.

In a flash, the door was closed again, the Blaze disappearing with it, and Dealmaker could only swear as he ran forward and pounded against the door, but the Punishment must have been holding it closed. And all too soon, the melted metal of the lock cooled, and the door was stuck.

Everything went quiet. Dealmaker stumbled away from the door, slumping to the floor and dropping his sword on the ground, gasping for breath from both the energy lost in the fight, and from the pain beating in his head. Slowly, the pain in his head began to fade, and his thoughts returned to him.

Oh god.

He'd failed to kill the Blaze.

His hands shook as the clenched at the hems of his shirt, and he continued sweating despite his body growing cold, he almost choked as something wet seemed to come to his eyes while fear grasped him tightly around the throat.

The Judge was going to kill him.


	16. Chance

Cassie could only stare in horror at the Haunted, her body frozen and her throat choking in fear.

She didn't stand a chance.

Her hands were clammy, the stone sword still in her hand shaking in her terror. Her pathetic excuse of a weapon didn't stand a chance against that diamond axe, especially not against a creature designed specifically to kill her.

Oh god.

The Haunted seemed to grin only wider at her predicament, letting the tip of his axe slam against the ground, the sharpened end of the blade tilting towards Cassie.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" said Haunted, treating the situation like greeting an old friend, instead of greeting it's prey. "I must admit, I was expecting you to arrive at some point. Judgey dearest was talking about 'serving justice' to the 'Sinners', and you definitely count as one. Surprised you weren't in the odd array given out at first but then again you must be the main course." Something dangerous gleamed in the yellow and black eyes, and the voice became deeper and more cynical as he all but growled out "Since you _killed_ me."

"What?" Cassie tried desperately to get her voice under control, but still it shook, even as she defended herself with "I've never even seen you before! How could I have killed you?"

The smile disappears from the Haunted's face, replaced with an almost frown in an expression that seemed almost disappointed.

"Ah, figures. Guess you don't recognize me then? Or," he pointed to her, or rather, to the portrait behind her as he continued with "that portrait of Jesse?"

Cassie laughed at that. A nervous, shaking laugh as she refused to look behind her, not when there was a murderer standing not even ten feet away from her. "You can't be Jesse. Jesse is-"

"-female and also completely different from me?" Cassie's heart only thumped faster as the Haunted finished her sentence, a small smile coming to it's face as it said "Yeah, I know. The other people I handled, actually talked to some of them once I whittled the number down, all had the same idea of who Jesse was. It was crazy how _nobody_ recognized me. And for you it's especially a shame," he said with a sigh, looking down at the axe with a hint of bitterness in his expression. "I was kinda looking forward to getting my revenge on the proper Cassie Rose. For killing me and all that. But," the bitter look on his face vanished and was replaced with a wide grin that showed teeth, glee now gleaming in his eyes, "I suppose you'll do. Blood is blood after all, and you did still kill people- Stampy said something Dan being dead, before I dropped my axe into his skull."

The name struck Cassie like a blade to the gut, her eyes widening in shock at how he'd spoken about the cat-themed Youtuber. He'd always been too nice for his own good. Always willing to lend her a place to stay for the night. Always made sure to bring fish for Winslow when he visited. Was the person she'd hoped she wouldn't have to kill. So betrayed when she'd learned _he'd_ been the one with the flint and steel- the last person she'd thought would have it.

This monster spoke about his death as casually as if they were talking about the weather, and now was smiling at her reaction. She could feel the horror plastered across her face, could feel sweat beading down her, her body shaking even more violently than before, her stomach churning and making her want nothing more than to hunch over a trashcan and hurl her guts out and scream. The wetness in her eyes didn't become anything beyond dampness, but were present nonetheless.

Forcing past the lump in her throat she said "I thought you said you were punishing 'Sinners'."

"Yeah I was surprised Stampy was in there to," the Haunted said, still talking casually and waving his hand lie this murder was no big deal, "but Judgey seems to have really shitty standards when it comes to people who've sinned. I mean there was a recording that played which 'explained' why the people were there, but I still didn't get some of them. Like, Isa? Really? What, were they just running out of ideas at that point?" the Haunted laughed, then sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Oh, they're so going to kill me. Once I'm done with you," he looks back to Cassie, raising the axe again, "that is."

"But I'm not even the one that killed you!" she all but shouted, re-adjusting her grip on the sword as it nearly slipped out of her grasp, her hands drenched in sweat and still shaking like mad.

"Oh I know," the Haunted said chirpily, "I just don't give a shit. Even if I'll die like, moments after I kill you. Although," the smile slipped from his face, his eyes widening and an expression of realization came to his face, "who said I had to kill you right now?"

Recognizing an opportunity to give herself more time, she grasped onto the statement by saying, "Yeah, who said that? Why not wait to kill me? Or like, not kill me at all?" she said the last line with a nervous laugh.

"Well I'm not going to just let you go, I hope you realize," the Haunted said, waving his hand at her, a smirk returning to his face, "but tell you what- I'll at least give you a chance to live. I mean, I don't care about you at all and would gladly slaughter you and watch you bleed, but killing you would be much more fun if it were like..." a strange gleam came to his eyes, as his smirk grew into yet another wide grin, "...a _game_."

The word game brought flashing images of Cassie's time with the Old Builders, of people killing each other for fun and being brought back to life. It almost made her shudder, but she forced it down and gulped away her fear. Looking her Punishment directly in the eyes, she asked "What kind of game?"

"Why, the same game I played with all the others of course," the Haunted said, grin and eyes wide and looking almost like an excited, psychotic child, "Hide and seek. See, wherever the fuck we are," he waved to the doors with light streaming out of them, "has perfectly replicated rooms of the Mansion. You know, the one where you killed people?"

The Mansion she'd filled with hidden tunnels and crafted to be one enormous death trap. "I figured that's what you meant," she said, her mind whirling on how she could sneak around this Punishment and strike him from behind.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if it has _all_ the rooms of the Mansion," the Haunted said, "but it's got a decent number. So here's what we'll do: I'll send you to run off around the Mansion, while I sit for a minute. Then, I come to find you. I win, obviously, by finding you and killing you however brutal way I wish. You win if, by some ungodly chance, you manage to kill me. Frankly I'd prefer to be the winner, but if you do manage to kill me, well, I'm dead either way, so it hardly matters. So Cassie," his grin grew wider, "you wanna play?"

Cassie wasted no time in saying "Yes." Even if she wasn't certain that this monster would follow through on this deal, even if she still had no idea how she would, assuming she even could, kill this creature.

"Yay!" the Haunted said, flicking his hand so his weapon disappeared into his inventory and then clapping his hands together, "Now if you don't mind scooching down, I'd like to sit in front of my portrait while I count. Sitting's more comfy after all."

Cassie nodded, making sure to keep her weapon out and walk towards the doors on the opposite side of the table that the Haunted was on, though he seemed content just walking to his seat, humming some nonsense tune to himself as he made sure to keep eye contact with her all the way, making her skin prickle.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, the Haunted arrived at his seat, plopping himself down and crossing his legs on the table, putting his arms behind his head. Cassie stood in front of the doors with the light spilling out of them, eyes flickering towards it to note, with dread, that it was the dining room with the sand trap. Where Sparklez had died. She gulped, unease and dread weighing down on her as she stared at the Haunted and it's portrait of who the Punishment had once been.

The Haunted grinned once more, showing it's pointed teeth. "I'll give you a minute to let yourself get to where you want to be. But then I'm coming for you. So your sixty seconds start," he snapped his fingers, "now."

Cassie bolted into the dining room, her heart pounding as the Haunted's laughter sounded again.


	17. Failure (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Choking, Wounds relating to Throat and Knuckles. Previous chapters have been updated with a font change to the Judge's dialogue.**

* * *

It took several minutes, but Dealmaker finally managed to force himself to stand up and walk away from the sealed iron door.

When he entered the room to find the Judge, they had their back turned to them.

He swallowed, trying to calm his beating heart and forcing his expression to remain neutral, and he tried to speak. "Master Judge, I-"

"You failed to kill the Blaze." The Judge didn't even let him finish his sentence, their voice tense and bristling with anger.

Dealmaker paled when he saw that they held one of the Blaze's rods, the one that had been embedded in their hand earlier. If he had managed to kill the Blaze, then that rod would have evaporated into dust with the Punishment's body. That was how the Judge had known he'd arrived unsuccessful. They knew that he'd come to nothing the moment he'd entered the room.

And if that weren't bad enough, the hole in their Command Gauntlet, the source of all their power, had black burn-looking markings around it, almost as if the great item were bruised.

The Blaze had done more damage than it had previously appeared.

Dealmaker's mouth was incredibly dry, his heart pounding and his body beginning to sweat as he tried to explain, "Master Judge, I can expl-"

A whirl of motion and the Judge's inhuman eyes were staring into his, fury sharpening them to daggers, and the fingers of the Gauntlet wrapped around his throat as the Judge pushed him against the wall, teeth revealed in a snarl and their anger clear.

"Why didn't you kill the Blaze?" the Judge asked, their voice that was normally devoid of emotions now leaking with anger, "It was a simple task. All you had to do was take the sword I gave you, and slice it through his flesh and guts. And yet, you failed. How the fuck did you _fail_?"

Dealmaker strained to resist a yelp as the sharpened fingers dug into his flesh, the Judge more furious than he'd ever seen before, pressing him into the wall. "I tried to kill the Blaze, but he was a strong fighter," he hurridly tried to explain, heart pounding faster and desperation growing as the patience in the Judge's eyes ticked away, "and then at the last moment, he went through a door and I couldn't get to him!"

"You were incapable of killing him," the fingers dug deeper into his throat, and a gasp slipped out of him as the pain grew stabbing, "because he entered a room? What room _was_ this?"

"The one with the iron door!" he all but shouted, his voice a high pitch as his mind raced with desperation, blood dripping down his neck from where the claws of the gauntlet were digging in, "The one you never let me enter!" the Judge's eyes widened, and hurriedly he blurted "I'm sorry! I tried to follow him, but couldn't!"

For a moment, there was only silence. The Judge's expression was blank, purely unreadable.

Then the Judge let out a scream of pure rage, and Dealmaker was thrown to the side, slamming into the wall with a cry, then slumping to the floor as he could only stare at the Judge in fear.

"Of ALL the places that piece of shit could've gone, it had to be _there_!" the Judge was all but screaming now, their voice wrath filled as they slammed their left fist into the wall, "Of course! Is fucking nothing going to go right today? He couldn't fucking kill Aiden, he damaged my fucking Gauntlet," their fist kept hitting the wall repeatedly, "and now knows about her! Of fucking course! Can things just go fucking right for once? I can't fucking believe-" the stone block that the Judge had been punching poofed into dust, broken by the punching, and the Judge became silent in an instant, stepping away from the wall.

Dealmaker was huddled in the corner, body frozen in pure terror, only able to stare in fear at the cloaked figure standing only feet away from him, strands of dark hair falling out of their hood. They had been filled with wrath and fury only seconds ago, proved by the blood staining the knuckles of their hand not covered in a gauntlet, yet now they were completely silent, a blank, distant expression on their face as they stared seemingly at nothing.

The Command Gauntlet buzzed, the pure white sparks around it now seeming more erattic and almost glitch-like, and with a flash, the hole in the wall vanished, a stone block there again, as if nothing had ever happened.

The Judge then walked towards the door of the room, opening it, before pausing and looking to Dealmaker again, their sharply narrowed eyes making him curl in on himself tighter, his body shaking and his throat choked.

"Since you failed to kill the Blaze," the Judge said, their voice was once again cold and devoid of emotion, somehow more terrifying than when it had previously been filled with rage, "_I_ am going to go and attempt to finish the job. You will stay here, because despite this atrocious failure of yours, you have had past successes, and you could still continue to be useful. However, if you fail with something so important again, I will not hesitate to make sure you suffer for your Sin just as much as Ivor did." Then, a smile, cold and cruel, came to the Judge's face, inflicting a horror onto Dealmaker that make him almost whimper. "So I highly suggest you do exactly what I tell you from now on."

And with that, the Judge left the room, leaving Dealmaker huddled in the corner, almost in tears from sheer terror.


	18. Blurred (GORE)

**Gore warning: Injuries relating to Chest, Chopping through Arm**

* * *

Cassie decided that the first thing she'd do after winning this twisted 'game' that her Punishment had set would be to find the Judge person in charge of this elaborate challenge and kick their ass.

Assuming that she got out of this alive, that was.

Which was incredibly difficult, considering her circumstances.

The Haunted hadn't been lying when it had said that there were several rooms of the Mansion in this place, but they were not all arranged like they had been in the Mansion, and although the rooms were almost identical, they weren't all perfect replicas.

Because her secret passageways and traps, that she'd spent so much time on to set up so elaborately and spent even longer to memorize perfectly, were completely absent. Wooden blocks sat where dispensers should've been, hidden buttons and levers were missing, and portraits had no tunnels to hide, only solid wall behind them.

And considering that her secret passageways were what her half-assed plan had been relying on, the circumstances were not in Cassie's favor.

Which was why, after getting far away as hell from the Haunted's starting point(although it was definitely searching for her now, way more than a minute had passed since she left) she was now sitting on top of some bookshelves, back pressed against the wall, her sword held tightly in her hand as her heart pounded.

This room, which was barely lit and almost dark enough for mobs to spawn, was also a library, of sorts. She hadn't been to it that often, and none of the guests had visited it during her party, so this room was among the ones she was least familiar with.

But she had accurately remembered that there were some shelves that she had, accidentally at the time, placed in a way that one could parkour up them and onto the top of a certain case of bookshelves.

That certain case of bookshelves was now her current hiding spot. After checking to make sure none of the portraits near the shelves had any secret entrances(which they didn't) she had leaped and climbed her way up here, her body tensed and prepared for an attack, while her mind whirled in an attempt to figure out some kind of plan.

She knew that she couldn't hide up here forever. Even if she did find a place where the Haunted would never find her, what then? She'd starve, or she'd be drawn out when the others she'd been traveling with would inevitably come to find her(she hoped they would care enough to come find her, anyways) and would be utterly helpless against the creature that was her Punishment.

But she was at a serious disadvantage here. Both she and the Haunted were undoubtedly familiar with the rooms of the Mansion that were located here, only it probably already knew about the absence of traps and lack of secret passageways, something that she had wasted time uselessly searching for. Not to mention that it had a diamond axe, probably enchanted based on how shiny it was, while she had only a stone sword. Which while it did let her be quicker than her opponent, was a significantly weaker weapon, not to mention that it also didn't have a lot of durability remaining.

She let her head fall against the wall she was laying against, smacking her hand against her forehead as if it would let her think of a plan before the Haunted found her.

And speak of the devil, for the moment she had that thought, the doors to the room creaked open, footsteps sounding along with a low, cynical chuckle.

Cassie's blood ran cold as the doors shut again with a creak. Her hands tightened around her sword and her heart began to race. Her Punishment couldn't have found her that fast. It was impossible.

"Oh Cassie~" the Haunted called out in a sing-song voice, wood scraping against wood that was undoubtedly the sound of it dragging the handle of it's axe along the floor. "Are you in here Cassie? Come out come out wherever you are~"

Cassie pressed her back against the wall, trying to calm her panicked breathing. Her mind raced as she tried to piece together a last attempt, desperate plan, and her hands began to grow clammy as the sounds of the Haunted's footsteps drew closer to her hiding spot.

"C'mon Cassie," the Punishment taunted in it's growling voice, almost certainly just below her now, "you know you can't hide forever now. Might as well come out now, call it 'game over'."

A sudden idea came to her head. It would be a risk, but it was the only thing she could think of right now, and something was better than nothing.

Making as little sound as possible, though it was difficult with her shaking hands, she slipped her beanie off of her head, and tossed it violently to the opposite side of the room.

It smacked against the floor audibly, and as she heard scraping sounds, she looked over the bookshelves, finding the Haunted right below her, head turned towards where she'd thrown the beanie. With her sword drawn and clenched in her hand, she leaped off the bookshelves.

Glowing eyes met hers as the Haunted leaped away, but not before her blade tore through flesh, causing it to roar in pain as she slammed onto the ground, rolling away as it's axe slammed into the floor.

She scrambled to her feet, looking at the Haunted. The Punishment's grin was wide, but it's eyes twitched with anger. It seemed, somehow, unphased by the large gash that spread from it's right shoulder to all the way across it's chest, despite that the wound looked nasty and was dripping blood.

The Haunted's smile, despite being wide, still seemed almost like a snarl. In a rage-filled voice it shouted "You fucking _bitch_!" before it lunged for Cassie.

The axe whirled past her as she dodged, swiping at the Punishment only for it's axe to knock her weapon aside so that it collided with the shelves. Books slammed to the ground as she leaped away from the Haunted as it swung it's axe again, but she dodged so that it swung into the bookshelves instead, and with such force that the diamond axeblade embedded itself in the shelves, giving Cassie an opportunity to lunge and stab at the Haunted's neck.

The Punishment tore it's weapon from the shelves and knocked her aside, causing her to fall to the floor and her weapon to be flung to the ground.

The stone sword hit the ground, and the impact drained the last of it's durability, causing it to disappear with a poof.

Cassie stared at where the weapon had once been, fear and dread gripping her and weighing down on her as she scrambled to her feet, everything blurred as she tried to dodge the Haunted's swinging axe again.

She didn't move fast enough.

The axe crunched through her arm effortlessly, a scream ripping from her throat as agonizing pain erupted from the wound, searing throughout the rest of her body and forcing her to collapse to her knees, clutching the the remains of her arm as blood spilled out of the stump below her elbow. Her vision was blurred with pain, her throat going raw from screaming.

Something slammed into her chest, and she fell onto her back with a thump, tears now streaming down her face. There was a strange, high-pitched sound that she couldn't hear quite right, and something pressed against her chest, preventing her from getting up.

Her vision was hazy from the pain and tears, her mind foggy and searing with agony, but she realized, slowly, that the pressure on her chest was a foot, and that the strange noise she was hearing was laughter. Cackling, hysterical, laughter.

She looked up, seeing, though blurrily, the Haunted's black and yellow eyes staring right from above her. There was a shimmer in the corner of her eyes, the shine of it's weapon, the diamond axe. Some kind of liquid dripped onto her face, the pain-filled haze of her mind not comprehending what it was.

"I can't believe that this," the blurred and distant Haunted's voice spoke, the pressure on her chest increasing as it bent down close enough that she could see it's face more clearly, the grin filled with pointed teeth wide, it's terrible eyes gleaming and eager, "is how it all ends. I get to kill you all because you can't stand a little injury in your arm. _What_ an ending for Cassie Rose. And honestly," it says with a chuckle, "I don't think I could've asked for it any other way."

Her vision was growing only more foggy from the pain of the open, bleeding wound on her arm, and the pressure on her chest growing. She was having trouble breathing now, not even able to scream because she was out of breath.

No. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be how she died.

But the diamond axe shining through her blurred vision said otherwise.


	19. Savor (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Blood, Injuries relating to Chest and Arm**

* * *

Haunted wanted to savor his last kill.

Which was why he waited. Why, instead of pressing his foot down and crushing her ribs, he watched Cassie Rose gasp in pain, her severed left arm undoubtedly the cause of most of it, openly crying and coughing from her sobs, probably too weak to really scream any more.

He almost wanted to leave her like that. To leave her lying on the floor, choking on her own spit. Let her die a slow, agonizing death, bleeding out on the floor before finally disappearing from existence forever.

Almost.

But then it wouldn't really be him who killed her.

And besides, he couldn't just leave her to bleed out like that.

He was all too aware of the axe in his hand. The glimmer of it's blade shining clearly in the corner of his eye. The way it's weight was just right for his hand.

And with a tingling feeling spreading through his fingers, he stepped off of her chest, and then bent down and slowly embedded the diamond weapon's blade into her chest, far enough to cause a new fatal wound, but not far enough for her to die instantly.

For a moment, as the sound of crunching bones and the squelch of flesh being sliced through emerged, he expected everything to shift. Expected for himself to snap out of it. For his long-lost sense of morality to finally wriggle it's way free, for the weight of all he'd killed to finally slam down on him, to make him feel sorry for all he's done when it's all too late. For him to feel terrible about all that he'd done, all those who he'd killed.

A choked sound resembling the last remnants of a scream and a gasp coughed it's way out of Cassie's throat, and as scarlet blood began to seep through her jacket, no feelings of remorse or guilt made it's way into Haunted's chest.

Instead, there was only a thrill. A sick, ecstatic pleasure that surged through his body as Cassie Rose began to choke out blood, the red liquid spurting out of her mouth. The axe must have hit her lungs.

He bent down over her thrashing body, and took her face, forcing her to look at him.

"Look at me Cassie," he said, grinning with pleasure as she continued choking out blood, "I want to see the light leave your eyes. It's... _better_ that way."

And sure enough, slowly but surely, the light did fade from Cassie Rose's eyes, and her body went limp.

She poofed.

The axe that had been embedded in her chest clattered to the floor, and Haunted stood up, breathing in the scent of fresh blood and reveling in the terrible, yet wonderfully pleasureful feeling that spreads through his body, knowing he'd just ended yet another life- and_ Cassie Rose's_ nonetheless.

A sharp pain from his wound, and he winced, only now putting his hand to the large gash that spread across his chest, blood staining his hands. He looked down at it, the blood seeping into his clothing and dripping onto the floor.

It wouldn't kill him immediately.

But unless he received medical attention, it would kill him eventually.

Huh.

His body tensed, and uncomfortable feeling spreading through him and clenching at his heart.

He thought that he wouldn't be afraid of death at this point. He wasn't exactly able to return to whatever life Jesse or the White Pumpkin ghost had lead before, so what reason did he have to live?

...Maybe it was just survival instinct.

Maybe some buried part of him actually wanted to live. Maybe a small, stupidly naive part of what used to be Jesse wanted to believe that there was a way they could've gotten out of this whole damn Judgement Day alive.

Well... even if there had been a way to get out of this situation alive, there certainly wasn't any way now.

He noticed the axe on the floor again. A part of him wondered if it would just be better to end it now. Face a quick death instead of slowly bleeding out. Take the weapon and end everything, here and now.

Everything was quiet.

Haunted walked towards the doors, the exit of the room, arm over the wound in his chest, as if it would help stop the bleeding. He left the axe where it was, not bothering to pick it up and take it with him. Screw it.

He only had a little bit of life left, no matter what he did.

Might as well savor it.


	20. Thud

Harper closed the door, her hand shaking as she removed it from the handle and she looked at Otto and Aiden.

There weren't many doors left in the hallway, and that was including the one made of iron, clearly locked so that they couldn't enter.

And they still hadn't found Cassie.

She didn't even need to say that her efforts were fruitless- the moment she looked at her companions Aiden looked to the ground, and Otto let out a sigh.

"Harper, we all heard her scream. Chances are that the 'Judge' designed a trap, after her paranoia, and if it's a trap that even Cassie couldn't spot..." Otto rubbed at his arms, eyes staring at the ground, "I'm just saying that we should prepare for the worst."

Harper didn't reply, only leaning against the wall, trying to steady her breathing. She wanted to believe that Cassie was alive. That they hadn't just lost somebody else to the hell that was this 'Judgment Day'.

But Otto had a point. They had all heard her scream, but the room with the open door had been completely empty, and all the other rooms they checked as well. There was no trace of her anywhere, and if the Judge really had been clever enough to set a trap that even Cassie, who had always been the best one with redstone besides Harper herself, couldn't spot or avoid...

Chances were that her punishment had already killed her.

Harper inhaled sharply, leaning against the wall. "I know, I know. It's- if there's even the slightest chance that she's alive, we have to try right? I just- I just can't believe that we could have possibly lost someone so soon after Ivor."

"In a place designed to kill us off?" Aiden sighs, crossing his arms as he continues saying "I don't like it any more than either of you, but the chances of us finding Cassie alive are slim. Remember, we were brought here to _die. _I'm just the exception..." His hand drifted to the burns on his face and neck, and he flinched from his own touch.

Harper sighs, both from the idea that Cassie's chances of being alive are slim, and the fact that he's touching his face again. She focused on the latter thought, and said "I told you not to-"

A loud thud emerged, causing the hallway to shake and everyone to jolt, rapidly turning towards former doors they'd tried, where the noise seemed to be coming from. Another thud followed, the pressure causing a trio of wooden doors next to each other to shake.

Another thud came as the all arrived at the trio of doors, and it took only a glimpse into one room to see that the noise was.

Row by row the blocks of the floor were disappearing, and re-arranging themselves to look almost like a stairway.

Harper could only gape at the sight, another loud thud sounding and placing the next row of blocks lower, lowered by what would seem to be almost some kind of fascinatingly well done redstone work, if it weren't for the glowing pixels that appeared every time the floor lowered itself, the telltale sign of a Command Block being used.

So that's how the Judge got things done.

They all watched as the floor continued lowering, eventually getting to the point where it was met with blocks appearing to come up from the floor, all leading into some dark, ominous room.

When the thudding finally stopped, and everything was quiet for a minute or so, Harper looked to the shocked Aiden and Otto, the latter seeming to be literally shaking, probably because he also noticed the white pixels.

Harper looked back at the stairs, and starting going down.

"W-wait! Harper!" Otto called after her, grabbing her by the shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to find answers," she replied as she roughly tore away from his grasp, continuing to go down the stairs, "because a mysterious staircase appearing out of nowhere has to mean something. It might reveal what happened to Cassie."

"Or it could be your Punishment." Aiden's remark caused Harper to freeze in her tracks. "The 'Program' or whatever it was called. How do we know this isn't just the next step in this elaborate deathtrap?"

Everyone went quiet, Harper able to feel the other two's stares boring into her back as her mind grappled with the possibilities.

Eventually, she took in a deep breath, and said "The stairs are accessible both ways. If we don't go down there, then whatever's down there could just as easily come to us." And so she continued down the stairs, hearing another pair of footsteps following her soon after, and then a soft 'damn it' from Otto before another set of footsteps began following as well.

They all entered the room, most of the light coming from the top of the stairs where they'd entered, and looked around.

The walls were covered in portraits of people Harper didn't recognize, but some of the features of the portraits featured disturbing visuals, the one portrait of a man in some sort of orange cat sweater having the word 'GUILTY' spelled out in red, bloody letters sending a chill down Harper's spine.

She looked around the room, the creepy portraits being the most notable features in the room, but then she noticed a pair of doors to their right, located in the corner of the room.

And those doors were wide open.

Harper quickly walked towards the doors, not even caring whether or not Otto and Aiden were following her at this point, and she walked into the next room, and almost immediately she froze in her tracks.

There was only wall to the left, with a large dining table to the right, but she barely noticed either of those features. Her eyes were focused on the pair of doors directly across from the doors she'd entered from, and the fact that someone was leaning against the door frame, looking directly at her.

Dread filled her body as she stared at the figure, with glowing yellow pupils set in eyes that were otherwise pitch-black, belonging to something that shared the appearance of the shell of a white pumpkin, Cassie's favorite plant. Only this white pumpkin mask appeared to be fused to the figure's face, and blood, some dry and some fresh, was stained all over their green suspenders and black shirt, even on their face as well.

And underneath all these horrific features, they had a striking similarity to Jesse.

The figure stared wide-eyed at Harper, arm over his chest in an attempt to cover a nasty looking gash, and said "Huh. I didn't expect this." A grin formed onto his face, lopsided, but filled with sharpened teeth, and with a touch of manic to it.

Harper stepped backwards, bumping into someone, but she didn't care, as the figure let out a chuckle. A tired, but amused chuckle.

"Well, since I don't know recognize..." the figure's eyes seemed to widen as Harper felt Aiden stand beside her, and his grin seemed to widen, "...most of you, I'll be a polite host and start with the introductions."

The strange figure made a mock bow, before letting out another amused chuckle, then spreading out his hands he said "I'm Haunted."


	21. Jackets

Harper's breath was caught in her throat.

No one said anything at first. There was a brief pocket of silence, but finally, Haunted let out a chuckle.

"Don't talk all at once now," the Punishment said, leaning against the door frame again, "I mean awkward silence is nice and all, really, but I don't have all day here." He gestured to the large gash in his chest, the blood still dripping and staining the lower half of his shirt from black to a dark red.

Fear was clenching at her chest, and she could feel Otto's grip grow tighter, but Harper managed to squeeze her voice out and ask "Where is Cassie Rose?"

Haunted raised an eyebrow, the amused smile never leaving his face. "How rude. I give you all my name, knowing full well that you've all probably been told that I'm a dangerous monster you need to kill, and your first question is where that murderous bitch is?"

Harper clenched her fists, taking in a deep breath. "We just want to find Cassie, and then we'll be on our way."

"How about you introduce yourselves and explain why you're all here first?" Haunted said, crossing his arms and widening his grin so that his pointed teeth showed, "Because I'm really curious about who Aiden's new friends are."

Harper's head snapped to look at Aiden, his eyes wide in surprise.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked, his voice wavering, and the Punishment laughed again.

"Don't recognize me? I can't say I'm surprised," Haunted said with a shrug, "No one else has known me after all. Well surprising as it may seem, I used to be-"

"Jesse?"

Haunted's smirk fell, and Harper felt all eyes in the room turn to her.

"Yeah," Haunted said slowly, almost disbelievingly, "I was Jesse."

"Harper, how did you-"

"It's been a pattern with these Punishments," Harper cut Aiden's question off and crossed her arms, "that they all seem like Jesse. Malady looked very similar to her, albeit with a few changes, and she didn't deny when I called her Jesse. Blaze may not have looked anything like Jesse, but there was something familiar about him, not to mention that he referred to himself Jesse. And considering that Haunted has this odd familiarity to him as well, not to mention knows Aiden, I thought he might fit into the pattern."

For a moment, everything was quiet. Otto and Aiden were gaping at her, and Haunted was staring at her with an expression that seemed between awe and shock.

Finally, Haunted let out a chuckle, sliding to the ground and crossing his legs, an amused sort of smile on his face. "Now that is... interesting. It's one less thing I gotta explain anyways. You got any other dirt on me based on the other... whatever you said their names were?"

Harper smirked and said "If I had to guess, you have some kind of grudge against Cassie. Possibly because she killed you?"

Haunted seemed paler, the smile on his face almost tired as he said "Spot on."

"And the person in charge of this place brought you back to life- and made you into a monster so that you could kill her."

Haunted shrugged. "Yes. Although the Judge didn't tell me that I was gonna get to kill Cassie- I didn't even know she was here until I picked off everybody else."

Harper's blood went cold, the last statement hitting her like a punch to the gut and completely overriding that they had an official name for the person in charge of the ordeal. A feeling of dread hung over her as she asked "Everybody else?"

"Yeah," Haunted said with a giggle, "I got to kill loads of people today! There was actually a, a," he waved his hands absentmindedly, "a record thing that played. Judgey called them all Sinners, although I didn't see it in most of them."

"_Most_ of them?" Otto was the one who spoke up this time, and Harper looked to see his brow was furrowed in disgust and confusion. "Who in Notch's name did you think deserved to get murdered?"

Haunted didn't say anything at first, only giggling, but his breaths were heavy, and his shoulders were slumping.

"You know, Aiden, " Haunted pulled two dark-colored objects, possibly clothing, out of his inventory, but he quickly crumpled them and folded them together before Harper could see what they were, "I think that your team, Ocelots, Blaze Rods, whatever, you-" another laugh, the messily crumpled items resting in his lap, "-you guys were complete dicks. I never hated you before though, or, not Maya and Gill at least, but today... today I did hate them. So... you should know that it was really easy." His grin widened, rows of sharpened teeth revealed as Haunted lifted the crumpled balls. "Catch." And with that, he threw them.

The items landed in Harper's hands, although one of them fell to the floor, and Aiden swiped it up. They unraveled the items, spread them out, and Harper felt like her gut had been punched, almost letting out a small scream.

The items were both leather jackets, the design on the back of both of them being two blaze rods crossed over each other to make an X, matching Aiden's jacket.

Both jackets were bloodstained, and the jacket Aiden was holding had a tear in the back, as if something had cut through it.

Harper looked at Aiden, horror plastered on his face and his hands shaking.

Laughter. Maniacal laughter emerged, and Harper slowly looked to see the Haunted, clutching at his stomach and cackling like a madman.

"Do you think this is funny?" Aiden's voice was quiet, but the expression of terror on his face was quickly morphing into rage, and his voice was quickly raising as he said "Do you think this is _funny_?"

"Funny?" Haunted said, heaving breaths, seeming to be pale now, "I think the expressions on your faces are _hilarious_."

Aiden let out a raw, pain-filled scream, and Harper lunged to grab him and hold him back.

"Aiden stop, you can't-"

"HOW COULD YOU?" Harper struggled to hold the younger spawn back, writhing and struggling, even with Otto's help, "THEY WERE GOOD PEOPLE! THEY DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO _KILL THEM_!"

Haunted still laughed, even as Aiden screamed at him. The Punishment stood up, shakily, and he had to lean against the door frame, but still, he was laughing. _Laughing_.

As if being shouted at by the man who's friends he murdered was some kind of comedy gold.

Haunted's laughter eventually died down, even if Aiden was still boiling with fury and struggling against Harper and Otto's grips, and the Punishment's grin only grew wider.

"You know..." Haunted said, his voice shaky but still overcoming Aiden's screaming, "I gotta say... I don't think I could've asked for my last day to go any better." He gives a shaky wave. "Bye."

And Haunted poofed, leaving behind only an inventory of bloodstained accessories.

The suddenness of the Punishment's death was enough for Harper's grip to slacken, and Aiden slipped out of her grasp, falling to his knees.

"He can't have," Aiden said, only instead of a deafening shout, it's a shaky whisper, "This can't be real. They have to be fake- he didn't really-" a choking sob emerges, and his hands go to his face.

Harper bent down besides him, cautiously putting an arm around him, and he leaned into her, sobbing and crying.

"They can't be dead. They can't be."

Unfortunately, the bloodstained jackets said otherwise.


	22. Devices

**Blood Warning**

* * *

The Judge stood in the middle of the room, staring at the floor.

The device sputtered and fizzled sparks, golden dust glimmering around the crack in the center of the device.

M1 had broken the Final Punishment's anti-teleportation bracelet.

The Judge picked up the now useless device, and threw it into the wall so hard that it shattered into pieces.

Their clenched fists were shaking. Their breath was growing rapidly paced. They tried to keep control of themself.

They failed.

Their fist slammed into the wall and they screamed, punching against the wall again and again until the pain forced them to yank their hand away. Breathing heavily, they looked back to their shaking hand.

Blood leaked from their knuckles once again, the scarlet liquid dripping down and staining the carpeted floor with crimson droplets.

The Judge sparked up their gauntlet, clenching their teeth at the power as it drained away. They wiped the blood away, the hand's injuries no longer bleeding, but sore bruises still remained. They looked down to gauntlet, a scowl twitching at their lips.

The great device was becoming weaker, not helped by how much they used it. Before long, they would be powerless and as emotional as they had been before _she'd_ ever found it.

They had to finish Judgment Day before it was too late. They couldn't let the Sinners get away free of justice. The evil had to be vanquished.

They looked at the room once more, at the burnt patches on the floor, at the remains of the device they'd thrown, and after a minute, they exited the room.

Time for another change of plans.

* * *

Dealmaker had heard the scream of rage, and so when the Judge entered the room, it was all he could do to not cower in the corner.

The Judge's face was back to normal as an unreadable, emotionless mask. He briefly wondered if the lack of anger in their facial features should be comforting or disturbing, but didn't have time to dwell before the Judge's eyes were staring into his.

"Do you still have the sword I gave you?" they asked.

"Uh," he found it in his inventory, and brought the shining blade out, "yes. Do you want it back?"

The Judge looked at the sword, and an uncomfortable feeling built up in his chest as he saw some cruel desire gleam in their green eyes. But the gleam soon vanished, and the Judge shook their head as they replied "No, you'll need it."

He let out a subtle sigh of relief. "Thank you, Master Judge. I assume it's for self-defense purposes?"

"Partially. However there have been other..." the Judge stared at their gauntlet, and he felt his skin prickle as he saw the black stain of damage had grown, "I suppose complications would be the right word. You're going to have to take the place of Otto's Punishment."

Dealmaker felt like his heart had stopped. "I'm what?"

"Take the place of Otto's Punishment. You'll have to be the one who forces him to face his Sins," The Judge said this casually, tilting their head to the side as their lips had the faintest twitch towards a smile, "I did say it plainly, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did Master Judge. But-" he bit his tongue to refrain from saying 'but I didn't sign up to be a Punishment', since the Judge had already been merciful enough to spare his very life, so instead he asked "I must to ask why I have to be Otto's Punishment?"

The Judge walked to another area of the room, turning their head away from him so that he could no longer see their micro-expressions flit across their face. They didn't say anything for a moment, and he thought he might not get an answer.

But finally, they said "Do you remember that one time when you asked why I had Punishments titled F2 and F3, but no F1?"

Dealmaker squinted at the Judge, remembering the odd peculiarity and the conversation they'd had about it before, but not certain as to how it was relevant to their current conversation topic. "Yes. You said that F1 had rejected the body modification and died."

"That was a lie. F1 reacted to the body modification as well as any of the other Punishments, and she's perfectly alive. She was just kept away from the other Punishments..." the Judge's fists clenched, "or rather, she was."

Dealmaker sharply inhaled, and his blood ran cold. "The room that the Blaze entered..."

"Was F1's room. So now," the Judge's voice was lowering into a growl, "I have not only M1 to deal with, but also the most deadliest Punishment I've ever created," they turned to look back at Dealmaker, and he saw their eyes pointed into a glare, "and since I'm trying to save the Command Gauntlet's power for when I must inevitably face against F1-as you will die easily at her hand- you will need to bring justice to Otto. And if F3 fails to finish them off, Harper and Aiden as well. Do you understand your instructions, or do I need to drill them into your brain?"

Dealmaker stood there, mouth hanging open as his mind whirled with the new information. The Judge's stare bored into him, and he grew increasingly uncomfortable before he finally managed to worm out the words "I understand, Master Judge."

"Good. Since F1 can teleport - \don't look so surprised, she was supposed to face against the Old Builders- I don't know where she is, so I'm going to go make preparations for when I do have to face her," the Judge turned away and began walking towards the door, but paused, "Did M2 succeed in killing his Sinner?"

It took a moment for him to realize that the Judge was still talking to him, and he hurridly replied "Yes, Haunted did manage to kill Cassie."

"Ah," the Judge's tone of voice sounded pleased, "that's some good news at least. Did the others kill him in return?"

"Blood loss was what killed him, actually." The scene that he had observed from the old portrait, of Haunted laughing maniacally as Aiden's screamed echoed, and the Punishment finally poofing. He had to hold back a shudder replaying it in his head again.

"Hmm, that works as well. As long as he's dead anyways." Then the Judge made their way to leave, but just as they entered the doorway, Dealmaker had a question.

"If F1 was supposed to kill all the Old Builders, then why aren't Hadrian and Mevia in the group that you brought?"

The Judge hovered in the doorway, and for a moment, he thought that his question wouldn't get answered. But then they said "Hadrian and Mevia have been handled. Are there any other sudden questions?"

Dealmaker gulped, a sudden feeling of dread settling upon his shoulders. "No, Master Judge."

"Good. Go to the largest room at the end of the hallway, and wait there for Otto to arrive."

And with that, the Judge finally left the room, and Dealmaker now stood alone in the now empty room.

For a moment, he considered trying to leave this whole Judgment Day mess behind. To try and escape from this whole deadly scenario of over-elaborate murder and a masked maniac's idea of 'justice'.

But instead, he slipped out his sword, and headed towards the room all the way at the end of the hallway. There was no way he could escape the Judge. They were all too powerful, even if the Command Gauntlet was damaged.

Hopefully fulfilling the Judge's orders would at least keep him alive.


	23. Empty

Aiden felt like someone had shoved a fist into his chest and ripped his heart out.

He was empty. Numb. Hollow. The hollowness itself was a kind of torment, eating away at whatever remains of him, leaving behind only a numbness that left him incapable of doing anything.

He wanted to sob, to scream and struggle and writhe, but he couldn't physically bring himself to do it. His aching eyes felt on the brink of tears, and yet even if he tried, he couldn't bring himself to actually choke out and cry. He couldn't even physically move for gods sake, curled in the corner and hunched in on himself like a pathetic wretch.

The worst part was that even though he _knew_ what was happening, he couldn't quite _believe_ it. His mind was in denial that any of this was happening. His mind believed by some stupid, senseless miracle, that any moment now, Maya and Gill would walk into the room, maybe a little worse for wear, but alive. He just couldn't comprehend the fact that something so terrible had happened. He just couldn't comprehend that Maya and Gill were actually _gone_.

Even though the blood-stained proof was clutched in his hands.

His chest ached, as if the very absence of feeling caused him pain.

If his fingers weren't numb, they probably would've tightened.

He wanted the pain to _stop_. He wanted the aching in his chest and the numbness to just go away, for everything to just be some kind of sick illusion, for everything to snap back to normal. Anything if the pain would just stop.

He'd had that desire for over an hour now. Maybe longer.

Even if there was a method of telling time in this place, he still probably wouldn't be able to tell. For him, it felt like his suffering would last an eternity.

The silence that had blanketed the room was broken by something shifting against wood.

He tore his eyes away from the jackets, an almost disappointed feeling adding to the ache as he saw that it was Otto standing, and though his shoulders still were slumped, and his eyes still stared at the ground, he was the only one who's eyes weren't red and swollen.

Not that 'being the only one' said much anymore, since there were only three of them left now. Being reminded of that fact that led another ache to stab it's way to the surface.

Hopelessness.

"I know that this has been-" Otto tried to speak, but his voice shaking slightly, and he had to take in a gulp of air. He continued "I know that this has been difficult. But we can't sit here forever. If we want any chance of-"

"Otto, stop," Harper's voice was cold as she raised her hand. Otto's jaw snapped shut and he tensed, almost as if he flinched at her words.

Harper took in a deep breath, finally sliding off the table. "I know that death being permanent and grief being an actual thing is new to you, but grieving doesn't happen instantaneously. You can't just expect us- expect Aiden-" she looked to Aiden at this, her own eyes red, "to just 'get over this' and move on. We'll take as long as we need before he's ready."

"But what if we take too long-"

"Otto-"

"We need to move-"

"If he needs time-"

"Time won't matter if the Judge themself comes after us!"

The Judge.

The person responsible for everything.

He didn't listen to the rest of Otto and Harper's conversation, his mind sent on a spiral as he thought about this 'Judge'.

The Judge was the reason they were all here.

They wanted him to suffer. They wanted others to suffer. All in the name of what? A false, a madman's even, idea of justice.

The Judge was the reason for the Punishments.

He might have been a villain, he might be a Sinner, but this wasn't any sort of justice. This was torture.

The idea that all of this was caused because a madman decided to play judge, jury, and executioner, all to cover up this slaughter, sparked something inside Aiden's hollow chest.

The Judge was the reason that the Haunted existed.

A spark that was quickly growing starting to overtake the numbness, burning his heart back into a pounding existence, and sending an electric feeling storming through his veins.

The Judge was the reason that the Haunted had killed several innocent people.

He was now brimming with rage, the feeling boiling up inside of him so strongly that his body shook, as he stared at the blood on his friends jackets.

Blood that was on the Judge's hands.

The Judge was the reason that Maya and Gill were dead.

He let out a scream and slammed his fist into the floor, breathing heavily as he stood up, his mind now set on a new goal.

Picking up the jackets from where he'd dropped them, inside of his inventory, and standing up, he looked at Otto and Harper. He no longer felt hollow. No longer empty. No. He had a burning rage inside of him, determination sparking like lightening through his veins. He had a goal now.

Kill the Judge.

"Are we ready to go?"

Harper and Otto were obviously shocked, the latter even seeming to step away.

"I am, but are you sure you are?" Harper asked, looking surprised and almost worried at the sudden change in mood, "Aiden, if you need more time-"

"I'll have my time," he interrupted her, moving past her and towards the doors, a sense of purpose pounding through his blood, "when we get rid of the Judge, once and for all."

"Wait-" Otto grabbed his arm, and he struggled to tear out of the man's grasp, "Aiden, I know that you're hurting, and I think that the Judge is wrong, but they are clearly very powerful, and you can't just-"

"Maya and Gill, two perfectly innocent people, are dead because of the Judge. Based on the bloodstains throughout the house, several more innocent people were killed as well, because of the Judge. Cassie Rose, who I don't know your relationship with but she clearly meant something to you," He didn't even care that Otto flinched, continuing speaking more vigorously and his volume growing louder, "is dead because of the Judge. Ivor died an unnecessarily gruesome death because of the Judge. And that's just everyone we know about. Who's to say this Judgment Day hasn't happened before? Who's to say the Judge doesn't have the blood of _hundreds_ on their hands?" He could hear his own voice echoing throughout the rooms. "The Judge thinks this is justice? I'm going to show them what justice actually is."

Otto seemed speechless, only staring in awe at Aiden, who stared in return.

"He's right, Otto."

This was something that surprised both of them, as the two men turned and looked at Harper, who's fists were clenched, a determined look in her eyes. A sense of purpose that he hadn't seen since Ivor had been killed.

"Harper-"

"Otto, I know, it's dangerous. I know that there's a very high chance of us dying at the Judge's hand, assuming we even make it past the remaining Punishments. But this whole damn situation was designed to kill us, so if we're gonna go headfirst into danger, we might as well do something right while we're at it." She took in a deep breath. "We may all be what the Judge calls 'Sinners', but it's about time the Judge faces their own damn sins."

A quiet fell over them. Otto gaping at the two, and Aiden and Harper looking each other in the eyes, an understanding forming between them.

Otto's slack grip on Aiden's wrist finally faltered. "Okay," he said, his voice quiet, "I guess all paths lead to the Judge anyways. But we have to be careful- there are two more Punishments we'll have to face before we get there."

Aiden let a smirk come to his face, the goal he'd set himself now letting his anger thrive and drive him. Screw Judgment day. The Judge didn't know what they'd signed themselves up for.

"Then I guess we better get started."


	24. Eyes

"The only possible weapon we have against my Punishment," Harper said as they entered the room with the stairs, "is the bucket of water left over from when we encountered the Blaze. So our best chance is that someone gets close to Program then dumps the bucket of water on it."

"And that person should be someone besides you, right?" Otto said, and she paused at the foot of the stairs, looking back to see a nervous expression on his face, "This Program is your Punishment after all, so it's likely that it will be going after you, meaning that while it's distracted, Aiden or I might be able to sneak in with the bucket of water." 

"Hold on," Aiden said, "that's assuming Program doesn't separate us from Harper. I mean, when Ivor..." he trailed off, his body immediately becoming more tense.

Harper herself could barely repress a shudder at the memory, but she only gulped her nausea down and said "When Malady was killing Ivor. There is the possibility of that happening, a very likely one at that, so I'm keeping the bucket of water with me." She began to walk up the stairs, thinking the conversation over.

"But what if it restrains you?" Otto said, causing her to pause, "It did that with Ivor as well. And if it restrains you, you might not be able to pull out the water and..." his voice fades out.

For a moment, she hesitated, standing on the stairs and considering the possibility that she might not get the chance to use her only weapon against her Punishment.

"Then I guess it'll be that way." And with that, she continued climbing the stairs, at a faster pace this time to purposefully keep the conversation from continuing. Evidently it worked, as she heard Aiden's footsteps behind her, Otto's as well after a mumble.

They came to the top of the stairs, and continued down the hallway. Harper remained silent as they passed the rooms they'd already checked when searching for Cassie, determined to find this Program's room and get this over with.

She came to the last wooden door they hadn't checked, reaching out a hand to grab the doorknob, when she heard Aiden ask "The iron door wasn't open before, was it?"

Harper whirls around, seeing that the iron door that had most definitely been locked earlier, now open. Not wide, it was probably just open enough to let one or maybe two thin people squeeze in. But still, it was open.

Silence blanketed the hallway for a minute, Harper's gaze set on the door, only seeing Aiden and Otto tense out of the corner of her eyes. Finally, she let out a sigh.

"Well, let's get this over with," she said, and then she walked through the iron door, entering a room that was dark, the only light seeming to come from the hallway. Her stomach churned with nervousness, and she heard Aiden enter behind her, when she noticed that there was a single, glowing red dot in the corner of the room.

Then a SLAM sounded.

She whipped around, her heart wrenching with terror as she saw that the iron door had slammed shut, and Otto was still in the hallway, his eyes wide in horror.

She quickly rushed over to Aiden and grabbed his arm, then the walls began to make clunking sounds, and in the light flowing in from the hallway, she was that the walls seemed to be raising, disappearing.

She looked wildly around the room, desperate for an escape, when Aiden let out a yelp and she turned to the back of the room to see what had caused it.

Eyes. Wide, glowing yellow and red eyes were staring at her, accompanied by faintly glowing rods, and in the light of the hallway that barely reached, she could see the vague outline of Blaze, seeming to be behind some kind of glass.

And there was another pair of eyes as well.

Pink eyes almost exactly like an enderman's, only the purple pupils were barely visible, if there were any at all.

Was that Otto's Punishment? Dealmaker?

She didn't have time to think about that for long.

Because the moment the walls stopped clanking, there was the sound of metal scratching against metal, and then the entire room shot downwards, plunging her and Aiden screaming into pitch-blackness.

* * *

SLAM.

The room finally landed, slamming into the ground so hard it sounded like stone cracked, and Harper gasped as the impact coursed through her body.

She shuddered, and reached out to find Aiden in this pitch-blackness, almost sighing in relief when she heard him groan as her hand touched his shoulder. The two stumbled up against the wall, their breathing and bodies shaky.

"Are you alright?" She asked, wincing at the pain pounding through her skull.

"Not really," Aiden hissed, "but better than it could've been."

They lean against the wall(or she does at least, she can't really see Aiden) for the moment, unsure of what to do, and Harper wonders if that falling room was meant to the Program. The death trap. Use a machine to kill the maker of the machine... it would fit the irony the Judge seemed to love.

Then she looked to her side, the aching in her head still pounding but slowly fading, and she felt her blood grow cold.

Eyes.

Red, glowing eyes, the pupils a lighter shade and a blocky shape.

The eyes of a PAMA victim.

Then, laughter.

Laughter, high-pitched to the point of almost giggling, emerged, and to Harper's horror other red eyes began to glow as well in the darkness.

The pitch-blackness began to fade, and Harper realized that a dull red light was slowly beginning to flood into the room, and she saw that the eyes in the darkness belonged to a variety of mobs, but the glowing eyes that she'd seen first belonged to a humanoid shape.

"**Harper.**** Aiden. Are you ready to become useful?**"


	25. Useful (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Disturbing Throat Imagery, detailed description of injuries relating to Stabbing and **

* * *

Harper felt like her throat had a fist clutched around it.

The dull red light that entered the room exposed the Program, and the details of her appearance were revealed. The arms were completely metallic, and the insides of the throat were exposed to reveal pulsing wires running through it, flowing with what seemed to be blood or liquid redstone. The eyes were glaring, gleaming red, with black lines that looked almost like scratches stretching down her cheek and to the bottom of her jaw.

And a manic grin decorated her face.

"**What?**" she says, her voice creaking and robotic, "**Can't think of anything to say? Don't worry.**"

The eyes of all the other creatures, all gleaming red like blood, were on them, glaring.

"**Soon we'll be doing all the thinking for you.**"

Harper felt hopeless.

The growl of the creatures from Program's army was more like a terrible robotic buzz that surrounded them and made the already small room feel even smaller and more compact and tight. There were no clear escape routes besides the possible one behind them, and the dull red light seemed to be burning into her skin, shriveling up her body and making her feel claustrophobic and trapped.

It felt like they would die here.

But they had to at least try to survive.

"So that's it?" she asked loudly, "You went from being a hero to taking on the goal of the very thing you wanted to defeat?"

The creatures didn't stop moving, but Program's head titled to the side.

"**Oh Harper. We don't care about making everybody useful. Just the people who've hurt us- the people like _you_**_._"

"We? Us?" The words had passed through Harper's fear-muddled mind before, but now they were clear as day, and Harper felt her chest clench and her throat tighten. "PAMA."

The creatures stopped moving, and Program blinked with a loud click, then giggled. "**Hello creator! We thought you had already noticed.** **PAMA is more than a prototype now, see? PAMA has combined with Jesse, to make a form far more useful than before. Even if our goals were different at first, we have made a compromise. Making some people useful is more productive than making nobody useful. Now-**" the creatures began to move again-"**where were we?**"

"Harper." She looked over at Aiden, who's voice shook and eyes were widened. "What does it mean to become useful?"

Her blood went cold.

She'd forgotten that he didn't know the horrors of becoming useful

Laughter, cruel, metallic, and wild, emerged from Program.

"**The thing people like you deserve,**" Program said gleefully, "**And since you're so curious about the process, what do you say we speed things up a bit?**"

Harper didn't have time to think before the mobs sped towards them, and in an instant she was struggling against a zombie holding her arms back, a wolf in front of her growling and snapping it's jaws at her threateningly. And Aiden was frozen as an ocelot hissed, and a skeleton held him by his forearms to restrain him.

Program giggled again, and Harper watched as their hand slid out of it's wrist, and a red control chip slid out of their hollow arm and into their hand as it clicked back into place.

"**Now, who to chip first?**" Program hummed to themself as they tossed the chip back and forth between their hands, their smile almost mocking.

Harper realized that their chances of escaping were decreasing rapidly, and as Program's eyes began to linger on Aiden, she decided that it was now or never.

She flipped the bucket of water out of her inventory, and she saw a brief expression of shock flicker onto Program's face as she poured the water onto the floor.

The chipped creatures leaped away from the flowing liquid, only a single zombie couldn't move fast enough, and red sparks crackled in the air as the influence of PAMA was canceled out by the water.

Program, having also leaped away, stared at the liquid as it flooded the room, spreading to the point where almost half the room was covered in water. There was no longer a smile on Program's face, and their eyes were wide in surprise.

"**We** **weren't informed that you might have defense mechanisms,**" Program said as they stared at the water. "**We** **are not sure whether to be impressed or disappointed.**"

Harper didn't have time to worry about her Punishment's words. There was the groan of a zombie behind her, and shoving the bucket onto her fist as a make-shift gauntlet she whirled around and slammed her fist into the zombie's face once, then twice, then kicked the undead mob into the water. It splashed and then poofed.

"**Perhaps both. That improvisation was quite interesting.**" Breathing heavily, Harper didn't answer, she just grabbed Aiden's arm with her free hand and started walking towards the shaft they'd fallen down, the only visible exit to the room.

"**How determined are you, Harper?**"

She didn't want to give any satisfaction to her Punishment by answering, so she stayed quiet.

Which must have pissed Program off, because a sharp pain stabbed into her shoulder, and she let out a cry and and stumbled in her steps. Wincing, she looked to the left to find the source.

She barely had time to see the arrow protruding from her shoulder and the terrified expression on Aiden's face before a creeper flew through the air and splashed in the water in front of them. It sparked red and convulsed, before it shakily stood up, it's eyes now dark, empty, and set on them.

Harper's eyes shot open and she desperately tried to back away from the creeper, but it hissed and took only mere moments for it's body to explode.

Scorching pain erupted throughout her body, and the force of the explosion launched her backwards. Her back slammed into ground barely covered in water, with such force that it drove the arrow into her flesh and bone even deeper, and she screamed in pain. Her vision was blurry and her lungs burned as something roughly grabbed her shoulders and yanked her upwards out of the thin layer of water.

"**We can improvise too, Harper.**" The smug voice of Program was right next to her ear, the ringing slowly fading, and their cold, metal hands were on her neck. "**PAMA does take after you, after all. And you know what? We think that we've finally decided who to make useful first.**"

Her body tensed and her eyes shut tightly as the cold hands of Program were replaced with a jaw clenching into her covered hand, while a rotting hand tightly grasped her other wrist, and dread filled her as she waited for the chip to be stuck into her skull.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!_ LET ME GO!"_

Her eyes shot open, and she looked to see Aiden struggling violently against the skeleton holding his hands back, thrashing and trying to escape.

Program reached out a hand and grasped Aiden's throat, and his screams were choked out as they tightened their grip, their sharpened fingers digging into his flesh.

"**If only the people of Sky City could see this. Your old friends too. I can only imagine what a celebration it would be, finally making something useful out of your pathetic life.**" Program's free hand disconnected from the wrist, and a chip slipped out and into their palm as it clicked back into place. There was a wide, unnaturally eager, smile on Program's face, and it made Harper's stomach churn.

She wasn't the one getting chipped.

But this was far worse.

Harper looked at Aiden, his helpless struggling growing weaker,, Program holding his head so his eyes wide in terror were looking right into hers. They were shining with fear and confusion, and he looked almost like he was about to cry.

Program shoved the chip into the back of his head.

Aiden's pain-filled scream was raw and echoing. He thrashed with pain, his screaming growing only louder and echoing off the walls, and it sounded loud enough to be echoing through out the entire facility was well. Red lines slithered their way from the back of his head onto his face and down his neck, pulsing, uncaring for his screaming and his pain.

Then Aiden's screams suddenly choked out, and his body slumped, his head falling limply as Program let go of his neck.

The skeleton holding Aiden back let go, and backed away, and after a beep from Program, Aiden looked up.

His expression was blank, and his eyes glowed red.

Red like the light of the room.

Red like the blood on his neck.

Red like everyone else who had been made useful.

"**Welcome, Aiden. Yay.**"


	26. Deserve

By the time Blaze registered that Aiden and another woman had been staring right at him, the walls had already begun to screech, and then screams as the two plummeted into the darkness.

A SLAM sounded from it, and the screams and screaming cut off.

He could only stare at the shaft that had appeared, the floor gone, and no light visible.

"Huh."

The dry, husky voice snapped Blaze back to reality, and he looked to the side.

His companion's enderman-like eyes were also set towards the shaft, but they soon flickered back to him.

"What?" she growled, the misshapen jaw, which resembled something that would belong on the skull of a beast, twisted into a snarl. "Did you forget how to breath?"

He hadn't even realized how his heart had stopped, and his blood had gone cold, but her harsh statement had sent him back to reality.

"I'm just surprised."

She let out a grunt, and her body turned away from the mirror. "So am I. I didn't think the Judge would do something like that as part of a Punishment, but... thinking on it, it doesn't seem too out of their league. Actually, it kinda makes sense to torment a redstone user with redstone."

There was something about the casualness of the statement that made his stomach churn, but the mention of 'redstone user' caught his attention. "Are... you talking about the person who was with Aiden?"

She blinked at him, as if confused, then she let out a huff. "Right, _Aiden_ killed you. You didn't get to meet Harper."

"Do you-" he hesitated for a moment, but then decided to ask anyways, "-know what she did to end up here?"

The other Punishment shrugged, and the torn piece of cloth over her shoulder slid slightly. "If I had to guess, she's probably here because she created PAMA." At his blank expression she let out a huff, and said, "Giant evil computer thing which turned an entire world into mindless slaves for it. Not surprised the Judge thought she deserved to die." She held out a clawed hand dyed black. "Let's continue."

Blaze looked at her hand, then at her, then back at her hand again, his throat oddly dry.

"You just want to leave them?"

She blinked at him, surprised. "Well, yeah? I mean, they're here for doing shitty things. Besides, they're probably dead anyways."

"And if they weren't?" he asked, and discomfort churned his stomach. "Would you just... leave them to die?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, I would. Why do you suddenly care so much? You_saw_ what Aiden did. You tried to kill him yourself."

"I tried to kill him because I thought he had killed me," Blaze said, "It was less trying to kill him because I was 'doing the right thing', and more because_I_ was hurt, _I_ was angry, and _I_ wanted revenge because of it. But since he's not the one who killed me... it's..." he trailed off, and gulped. His stomach churned, and an uncomfortable feeling crawled up his skin. "Aiden did terrible things, yes, but are his actions bad to the point he deserves to die?"

"Of course he deserves to die," she growled, her hands clenched and her eyes sharpened into slits. "If a person does shitty things, they should pay for it. And killing them is making them pay for it. What, do you think he should get away scot-free?"

"No! Hell no! But-"

"Because-" she interrupted him, stepping closer so that she loomed over him, "-even if you don't agree with everything the Judge does, I know that they wouldn't just harm random innocents. Every single person here is guilty, and therefor, deserving of death."

_Every single person_. "What you and I, then?"

She recoiled in shock, her eyes wide. "What?"

"I can see why someone would think Aiden- and maybe even Harper- would deserve to die." He looked her in the eyes. "But what about you and I? I can't think of anything inherently 'sinful' about myself, or you either, if you're who I think you are, and yet what did the Judge do to us?"

He thought of the fire burning through his veins, the hoarseness that left a permanent growl in his throat, the ghostly connection he felt to the rods that hummed in the air. He looked at the dark splotches that took over F1's visible flesh and stained her hair, the small pieces of bone(or was it quartz?) that stuck out of her elbow, the way her flesh was twisted and misformed into something that was in no way human.

For a moment, silence.

Then a terrible, ear-piercing scream that was raw and aching with pain, echoed up the sides of the shaft, and even once it ended, it seemed to echo in his mind.

He looked, and saw a faint red light coming from the bottom of the shaft, shining against a thin layer of water that leaked onto the fallen floor.

"And even if they are people who deserve to die," he whispered, "do they deserve to die in a way that makes them scream like _that_?"

He looked over to her, and saw her eyes geared towards the floor.

"You do want you want," she said, but he noticed some of the growl was lost. "I won't stop you. But I'm still going to find the one who killed me, and spill his guts along the floor. Regardless of your thoughts or not."

Blaze nodded, unsurprised at her reaction. He floated to the glass, and tensed his body, preparing to break through it.

"They're probably dead anyways."

He looked back at her one last time, and saw her veins beginning to glow purple, which he realized must mean she was going to teleport.

"Well then I guess that's just the universe's way of saying I was wrong."


	27. Choke (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Detailed Throat Gore, Choking**

* * *

The eyes of PAMA in Aiden's face gleamed, a burning, blazing red that seemed to freeze Harper's blood. Her throat choked as she felt nothing more than the desire to scream, but she couldn't. She physically couldn't say anything.

"**What's wrong, Harper?**" a robotic mockery of Aiden's voice crawled out of his throat, a sickening, stabbing sign that PAMA had infested his brain and his free will was gone.

If she could've collapsed to the floor and given up then and there, she would have.

Program wasted no time as they walked over to Harper, and their hand clicked out of their wrist again, a cruel smile gleaming on their face. "**Well, now all we have left is you. Creator of PAMA, who's creation led to the death of Jesse, and the deaths of both resulting in what you see before you.**" A metal hand grasped her throat, and the eyes of Program looked right into hers. "**Now we can finally-**"

A distant crash sounded, and Program's smile dissolved.

"**What is that?**"

Aiden's body twitched, and the gaze of Program seemed to become unfocused for a moment, before their body tensed suddenly and the grip on Harper's throat grew tighter and drew a gag from her.

"**There's**_** more like us**_**?**"

Harper's mind whirled as she tried to comprehend what the hell her Punishment was talking about, what could've sounded that crash, and what Program could've gotten from Aiden's brain, when she remembered the two pairs of eyes she'd seen just before she and Aiden had been plummeted into the Program's lair.

No.

That didn't make any sense.

Her eyes looked at the shaft, and barely a moment passed before the Blaze appeared, floating just above the water with fire burning in his hands and his rods glowing and spinning around him in the darkness.

"Let Harper and Aiden go," he said.

Harper was stunned with shock.

But then she glimpsed Program distracted and staring wide-eyed, and a rush of adrenaline flooded through her system as she kicked her Punishment square in the stomach.

Program let out a grunt as they were knocked back, not by much, but enough that their already-slackened grip slipped from Harper's throat. She took the opportunity to slam against the zombie holding her arm into the wall and to scream at Blaze, "EVERYTHING HERE IS UNDER THEIR CONTROL!" because she didn't know why the hell Aiden's Punishment was here or why he wanted Program to hand them over, but fuck it, anything was helpful at this point.

There was a second for Blaze's eyes to widen, then the ocelot leaped over the water towards him.

There was a wave of fire unleashed before the zombie's hand grabbed Harper's neck and threw her against the ground, the creature that held her other hand leaping out of the way, and she barely heard "**Priority shift,**" in Program's voice before she felt a wave of heat over her head and the sound of a zombie groaning in pain.

She scrambled off of the ground and to her feet, her breathing rapid and her heart pounding as she saw Blaze flaming and still flying above the water, trying to attack and dodge the arrows of the skeleton, Program snarling and twitching as if they were angry and trying to think at the same time, the zombie that had been holding her on fire and groaning as it burned.

There was so much going on that she almost didn't notice Aiden in front of her.

The other monsters under Program's control all had their focus elsewhere, either attempting to attack Blaze or trying to defend Program.

Aiden wasn't doing either of those.

The cold, merciless red eyes in his sockets were set on Harper, and a chip was held in his hand.

She silently cursed Program as Aiden slowly approached her, standing between her and the water, and she felt her stomach churn with guilt.

"I'm sorry, Aiden." Her fists clenched as she raised them. "But I'm _not _becoming useful again."

Aiden's blank expression didn't change.

He ran at Harper, and barely dodging his punch, she slammed her bucket-covered fist into his jaw. A crack sounded and she backed away as Aiden quickly regained his composure.

"**The Judge is going to kill you in the end anyways, so why bother fighting us?**" The false voice crackled out of Aiden's mouth, and she could hear it shouted by Program as well, a synchronization that sent a shudder up Harper's spine.

"Being dead is better than being useful to you!" she shouted as the air crackled and a wolf howled in pain in the background, and as Aiden made a grab for her she swung to the side, she threw her fist at him again.

His hand snapped upwards and clasped onto her wrist, her fist inches from his face. "**You are but a temporary issue,**" Aiden and Program's voice sounded again at the same time, and it dawned on her that Program was talking to both her and Blaze. "**And even if we wouldn't win, the Judge would. It's a lose-lose situation.**"

Aiden swung the chip towards her head.

In trying to avoid it, Harper ended up toppling backwards, and her back slammed into the ground, her head began to pound with pain again, and her mind whirled.

Red eyes loomed over her as Aiden's foot pressed against her chest.

"_**JUST GIVE UP ALREADY!**_" Aiden's mouth didn't move this time, only Program's voice had shrieked, bristling with rage and spiking the pain in Harper's head.

Aiden's head snapped to the side as flames erupted into a wall of fire, and Harper took the distraction to grab his leg and shove it to the side, and he lost his balance, the chip toppling out of his hand as he hit the ground.

She saw him reaching for the chip as she began to scramble to her feet, her head throbbing and whirling as she tried to formulate a plan. She'd get to the water, but then there was still Program to handle, and Blaze was here for some reason, and her thoughts raced around in her head wildly without sense or order.

She only snapped out of her thoughts when a sudden CRACK sounded, and the mockery of Aiden's voice shouted, "**NO!**" and her eyes widened to see Blaze, with flames flickering off of his body, with his foot stamped down on the remains of a control chip, his glowing yellow and red eyes set on Aiden.

He tried to back away and scramble to his feet, but Blaze grabbed him by the neck and lifted him upwards, and Harper winced as she saw the Punishment's hand close around his burns again.

"**Are you stopping us just so you can 'finish the job'?**" PAMA asked in a monotonous version of Aiden's voice, and Harper saw Blaze's eyes narrow. "**From what we know of what happened to you, you should understand why this is important to us. Even if **_**she**_** might not be our murderer, like Aiden isn't yours, do we not deserve something resembling closure? And don't you also deserve closure? Or were you not also brutally slaughtered and then forced back to life as a mockery of your death?**"

Harper felt her gut wrench as she saw Blaze's body stiffen while PAMA spoke, and she almost felt as if she should say something, but she didn't know what she could say in this situation.

The movement of Blaze's arm barely registered before Aiden flew past her, and with a splash he landed smack in the water. Red sparks began to crackle and flash over his body as he thrashed, there was a scream from Program, Harper ran over and barely managed to grab him as his body stopped sparking and went limp.

His eyes were shut and his body was weak, but as she dragged him to an area of water where his head would be above water, he let out a groan. Even if he wasn't moving or speaking yet, Harper had to let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't died.

"The other Punishment isn't dead yet."

She looked behind her at Blaze, and now she registered that he was holding his injured and once again bleeding arm, a small gash bled on his neck, and there was blood dripping from the rods that spun around him slowly.

Harper barely had time to realize shit, Program, before the wall of flames disappeared and she saw Program step forwards.

They had a vicious snarl on their face, a skeleton on their left, it's bones scorched black and gray, and a zombie on their left, it's rotting flesh burnt and releasing an even worse stench.

Terror filled Harper when she saw that her Punishment, while furious, seemed to be uninjured at first, but then she saw the metallic hand clutched at the pulsing neck, and the dark red liquid leaking from beneath their palm.

"**With the amount of trouble you've caused, I don't care if you're useful **_**or dead**_**!**" Program screeched, fury bristling and cracking the robotic tone, and the zombie let out a robotic roar and leaped onto Blaze.

Eyes shot open as she saw the skeleton aim at the grappling Blaze and zombie, and she rushed forward and tackled the skeleton. The arrow twanged but shot nothing, Harper slammed her fist into the undead mob's neck, and it's health must have been low because it clattered to the ground and poofed, dropping only an arrow into Harper's inventory.

She whipped around to help Blaze, but her throat was grabbed and she choked as she was yanked her off her feet. Warm blood began to leak down her neck as sharp fingers dug into her neck, and she gagged Program's gleaming red eyes bored into her skull as they stared at her.

Rage burned in their eyes as they removed their hand from their neck, and Harper saw the red liquid bubble as it leaked from the large tear in their throat, pooling down their clothes and dripping onto the floor.

"**Will I finally make you useful again, or will you poof under my hand first?**" Harper's struggled and writhed as PAMA's robotic voice was now only an undertone, and Jesse's twisted, maniacal laughter became the prime sound. "**Oh, I don't know **_**what**_** to hope for!**"

Desperation flooded her system as she felt Program's metallic arm brush past her, and she grabbed the new arrow in her inventory and plunged blindly.

There was a terrible crunch and squealch as Program's laughter choked into a gag, and Harper felt blood splatter onto her hands as she watched as her makeshift weapon end up embedded in Program's throat.

A golden blaze rod suddenly struck through their throat as well, and they gagged as blood began to gurgle out of their mouth, and Harper barely even realized that she was slipping from the Punishment's grasp before she thumped against the ground.

And Harper looked up, her stomach sick, her mind a whirl, at Program.

And Program choked on their own blood.

Flailing hands clawed at their bleeding throat in mad desperation, blood spurting out with the half-choked screams that from their mouth, and their body writhed and spasmed in agony as blood gurgled from the tears in their neck. Thick red liquid spilled through their fingers and their wrists flickered red with the lights of the room, and in the panic one of the cords from Program's neck was strained too much, and it snapped.

More blood bubbled out as the bright red eyes dimmed and finally rolled up into their head, and their convulsing body went limp like the half cord the hung from their neck.

Harper's Punishment poofed before their body even hit the ground.

All that was left was the blood that puddled on the floor.

Harper shakily stood, her hand pressed against the blood on her neck, just as the red lights faltered, sending the room into darkness once more.


	28. Dread

Aiden's head burned.

A buzzing ache sunk into his brain, pain stabbed from where the chip had dug into his flesh and stung to between his eyes. His veins felt like they were on fire, and his limbs were like stiff weights.

It was only after the buzz inside his head had faded enough that he could hear the faint gurgling(screams?) that he dragged his eyelids open, to find himself staring through blurred vision at the ceiling.

Then the choked screams cut off, and barely a second later, the whole room went dark.

That was when he forced his body, muscles aching and screaming in protest, to stumble into sitting upwards. He tried to calm his breathing as his thoughts sludged through an aching mess, before a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder and he half-screeched at the touch.

"That's my hand," Harper's voice cut through the darkness, which stopped him leaning away from the hand on his shoulder, but his heart still thudded. "Yeah, that's me, don't panic... How's your head?"

"Aching," he mumbled, despite the heavy weight of his tongue, and with some waving, his hand found his forehead. "I think it's fading though." His mind's sudden reminder of the source of his aching and the fading buzz in his head made his skin crawl. "Is Program dead?"

A pause, and Harper's hand seemed to freeze.

"Yes." It's was a stiff reply, blank of emotion. "Do you think you can stand?"

He nodded, before realizing the uselessness of the gesture, and muttered out "I think so?"

There was a sudden glow, faintly illuminating Harper besides him and the water covering his legs, and his head snapped to the side to view the source.

The source being a small fire covering Blaze's right hand.

Aiden looked at his Punishment, the blood-stained blaze rods floating slowly and defensively around him.

Blaze looked back, gold and red eyes completely devoid of emotion.

The tension in the room was thick and heavy, as present as Blaze's stare, even if Aiden tried to ignore it as he clumsily tried standing, and even with Harper's help, and it took a minute for him to force his weak legs to finally remain upwards.

The moment he was certain he was steady on his own two feet, he looked back at his Punishment and asked, "Why did you help us?"

Blaze's expression finally shifted with something resembling a wince, his gaze finally broken as his eyes looked towards the ground. "I'm... having a bit of moral confusion right now." There seemed to be sincerity in his voice, but it was difficult to tell with the faint growling undertone. "But... from what I figured out, even if you did do things that were awful, I don't think you deserve to die because of it. Not like the Judge thinks you should at least. So... I'm going to help you escape."

Aiden stared at Blaze, body still tense, and tried to say something, but Harper beat him by asking, "How did you go from trying to kill Aiden to trying to save his life?"

Blaze visibly flinched at the statement. "...I did back off when I realized he wasn't my murderer." Harper looked at Aiden, and he nodded in reply to her silent question as Blaze continued, "And even if I did face the one who murdered me... I'm not sure death as a punishment is the best solution. Besides-" bitterness began to leak into his voice- "considering what they did to me, I have reason to doubt the Judge's idea of 'sinful'."

Aiden barely realizes he's speaking before he's already spat out, "Considering they killed Maya and Gill, I'm inclined to agree."

Blaze's eyes shoot open in shock, and the little light in the room flickered darker with the flame in his hand. "Maya and Gill are dead?"

Aiden tried to speak, but his stomach felt sick at the thought, causing him to taste bile and the words to choke his throat. The blood-soaked jackets in his inventory felt heavy and ever-present, and his eyes fell to the floor as Harper squeezed his shoulder in what he assumed to be comfort.

There was a minute of silence before Aiden finally managed to gulp, turn his head upward, and then he forced himself to ask, "You said you were going to help us escape, but I just want to know how we can stop the Judge."

The flame in his hand dimmed slightly as Blaze said, "Well... I think we'll to face them. My only possible plan of escape would require us to do so, since we need their gauntlet."

The word 'gauntlet' made it's way to the front of Aiden's brain, quicker than most of his other thoughts had so far. "A super-powered glove is the source of their power?"

"I've seen them use it to create things out of thin air, and it looks like a miniature Command Block." Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees a shift in Harper's expression. "If it's what brought us here, then I think we can use it to get out... if we can figure out how to use it." Blaze's free hand clenched. "That's not our only worry though, because besides the Judge, we'll also have to handle their right-hand man- Dealmaker."

The name rang distantly familiar in Aiden's mind, and it made his stomach sink with dread, but he couldn't figure out why.

Not until Harper let out a horrified gasp and said, "Otto's Punishment."

Aiden's blood froze. "Oh my god he's still up there."

Blaze looked confused for a moment, before his skin seemed to almost pale, and the flame and light flickered as he said, "He's supposed to face Dealmaker? He won't stand a chance unless he's got a weapon he's good with."

"No, Otto's completely unarmed. And even then- he's never been good with weapons." Harper's hands ran through her hair, her voice was laced with the panic and fear that shone in her eyes. "Oh god, I can't lose him too. How do we get out of here?"

Blaze's golden pupils darted around the room, before his gaze settled behind Aiden and Harper, and they turned around to see the shaft they'd fallen down.

"I can probably fly one of you up at a time," Blaze said, "I might be a little slow, and I'd have to put out my flame and send the room into pitch-blackness again, but it seems to be the only solution."

Aiden forced himself to swallow the anxieties that crawled up his throat. "Then we better start as fast as we can."

There was another nod from Blaze, and then the flame went out, taking it's faint glow with it.

* * *

Otto had only been able to watch in horror as the iron door had slammed shut before him.

He'd only been able to watch helpless as the sounds of clanking and scraping had sounded from inside.

He'd only been able to watch completely frozen and useless as the room had plunged into darkness.

Now he sat slumped on the ground, his hands clammy and his stomach tying itself in knots, because Harper and Aiden had fallen into the unknown, and even if the fall or Harper's Punishment hadn't killed them, they were still trapped down there.

And that left Otto alone.

His mind whirled and raced, and his heart pounded and thudded against his chest, but he was in vain in coming up with any solutions.

He was trapped alone, in a hallway with no exits, the only option being to continue until he came to face his Punishment.

And considering how lousy of a fighter he'd always been, death was certain.

He ran repeatedly useless thoughts through his head so much that he barely noticed the sound of a click, like redstone activating.

But the clunking of metal froze his blood, and made his spine shudder.

A cold sweat beat down his trembling body as his head turned upwards and to the side, and fear ran through his veins and dread settled on his shoulders at the sight.

The end of the hallway, which had always been nothing more than sold wall, was falling away.

The iron blocks clunked in an ominous rhythm as they slowly moved downwards and revealed an opening to a room, the walls a mixture of obsidian and quartz, sea lanterns that provided both decoration and lighting, and golden blocks speckled throughout to add to the illusion of power and luxury.

Otto recognized Hadrian's office instantaneously.

And he felt numb as he stood up, as the iron wall finished disappearing into the floor, as he walked into the all-too familiar office, and he looked into the center of the room.

Behind the desk didn't stand Hadrian this time, though the light-blue suit did have a reminiscent plaid pattern, and there was a smirk that was all too similar to one he'd seen on both him and Mevia, even if now it was on the face of someone who's skin and hair was darker than both of theirs.

The only thing more frightening than this man's resemblance to the Old Builder's was the way he reminded Otto of Jesse.

And this final resemblance confirmed Otto's dread.

Dealmaker stood up from the desk, enchanted sword in hand, gleaming like the confidence in his eyes.

"Ah, Otto. Are you ready for our appointment?"


	29. Preparation

**Warning: Descriptions regarding Blood, and brief mentions of dismemberment**

* * *

The scent of blood had pierced the Judge before they'd even gotten to the door.

The way the door had opened with a sticky resistance and the dark scarlet had stained the walls and floor didn't even surprise them, nor the mangled remains that were scattered with such vigor that one couldn't tell the chunks of flesh from the torn remnants of cloth.

It seemed that F1 had given Hadrian and Mevia the end they deserved.

The Judge sighed. Their plan to break the Old Builders from their torture and use them against the remaining Sinners was clearly no longer an option.

They held up their gauntlet to prepare to teleport, but then they saw the spreading black cracks and realized how little power they had left, and decided that walking would be the better option.

As they walked, they thought they probably couldn't create a weapon for themself without shattering the gauntlet, so they decided they'd probably take Dealmaker's sword- he wouldn't need it soon, anyways. The thoughts in their head tossed turned, and as they began to formulate a new plan, their gauntlet drifted under their cloak.

Their jaw clenched as the metal-encased fingers brushed against their armor.

The last remnant of Ivor's armors, the Judge had remade them into the Executioner, in case they did have to battle once more.

The armor hadn't lived up to it's bold name since they had sliced their friend's neck and ripped the gauntlet from her hand, so at least something in this battle would be fair for them.

There was a peculiar feeling that made their heart quicken it's pace, having to handle the Sinners on their own for once. To have to splatter their armor in dark red once more, and possibly end up destroying the gauntlet in the process.

They paused in their steps as the realization of the gauntlet's imminent destruction sunk in. That after this battle, their powers and position, along with all they'd created, would vanish.

The Judge stood in the hallway silently as they processed this.

Then they reminded themselves of all the wrong the Sinners had done, and allowing anger at the Sinners to simmer and begin to boil through their veins once more, they walked on.

Whatever cost had to be payed to enact this final act of justice, they would pay it.

* * *

Dealmaker's smirk seemed only to grow as he stepped in front of the desk, and Otto could feel his heart thudding against his numb cage of a chest. He couldn't fight, and if Dealmaker really was like the other Punishments, he couldn't be reasoned with.

The only chance Otto had was to try and stall for time.

"How do you know me?" was the first question out of his mouth, and Dealmaker let out a small chuckle, but stopped walking.

"Stalling, are you?" He laughed as Otto felt the cold dread sink further into his body. "Unsurprising, considering your nature. But-" he leaned back against the desk- "I suppose I can spare a minute or two. The Judge does prefer 'Sinners' to have more drawn out, painful deaths after all." He set the sword on the desk. "I know you because in my world, I actually made it to the Games. Met you, Mevia, and Hadrian- and Hadrian I made a deal with, then I became an Old Builder like the rest of you."

The pale blue suit and cocky smirk that were so reminiscent of Hadrian suddenly made all the more sense, and made Otto's stomach sick.

"You... convinced Hadrian to make you an Old Builder?" he whispered hoarsely.

Dealmaker's grin seemed to widen. "Oh no, _he_ offered_ me_ the chance to become an Old Builder. Apparently my lack of caring was impressive to him- the only thing I _convinced_ him of was my willingness to act." His smile seemed to fall, but barely enough to notice, at the last statement. "And that's all he needed to see to make me one of you."

Otto's mind whirled and his heart pounded. The thought that Hadrian had picked someone out to be an Old Builder was unthinkable, and what it said about the one he'd chosen made his blood turn cold.

Especially if Dealmaker's identity really was like the other Punishments.

"But weren't you _Jesse_?"

Dealmaker's smirk fell entirely. Then he chuckled, and a smile returned, but with a twinge of reluctance in it and his eyes.

"Yeah, I was. I assume you knew that because of the Punishments, and yeah, we were all Jesse. All of us once 'heroes'-" he held up air quotations as if around the word- "who, for some reason or another, ended up in the eyes of the Judge." A bitter laugh. "That's the only similarity between me and the Punishments though, as I didn't die like them. So gruesomely too, some of them."

"Gruesomely?" Otto croaked. His mind turned blank as fear racked his body, and only desperation to keep Dealmaker talking let words crawl out of his throat.

Dealmaker shrugged. "The Judge had to convince them to turn to murder _somehow_. Blaze and Haunted aren't too bad- one got stabbed through the gut fighting a battle he should've won, the other got an axe to the chest just because he wasn't careful enough with his shiny trinket. But Program had to struggle against a dying PAMA for a broken heart, and ended up burnt to a crisp with for her efforts. And Malady had the luck of existing in a world where the Wither Sickness still remained, and decayed from the outside in, the cure found just before she kicked it. The Final Punishment I never knew, but if she was supposed to kill the Old Builders... well, I can only imagine how she died." His head tilted to the side, his expression now turned amused once more. "But we've been talking for far too long... any more attempts to stall, or shall I get this over with?"

Otto tried to speak, but the words were strangled by absent breath.

The Punishments hadn't just been Jesses turned evil.

The Punishments had been Jesses who had faced horrific deaths, only to be brought back and twisted into the roles of monsters.

The realization of who exactly Cassie had first killed and who the Punishment's had once been weighed his chest down like Dealmaker's laughter as he took his sword from the desk and twirled it in his hand.

He'd been told who the Punishments were by a man about to kill him.

"What an expression!" Dealmaker said with his laughter as he began to walk across the room, "So you knew the Punishments were 'Jesse', but you didn't stop to think what circumstances would lead a hero to turn into a monster?" Dealmaker laughed.

Dealmaker_ laughed_.

Dealmaker had just spoken about the deaths of the other Punishments, and he only laughed.

"Who even are you? Completely devoid of any form of sympathy?" Otto's voice burst out of his closing throat, shaking so violently it was hardly recognizable.

Dealmaker stood in front of him now, his smirk casual and arrogant as he spoke, "Me? Well, I'm the Judge's right hand man, so to speak. I help them serve their idea of justice to the people who they think got off easy- the people like you, Otto." The smirk grew as Otto trembled. "Surprised? Oh come on, you were just as responsible for the Games turning corrupt-"

"No! Hadrian and Mevia-"

"-did the actual corrupting, yeah, but who _allowed_ them do that?" Dealmaker held up the sword in his hands, and the diamond blade glimmered and shined like his eyes. "You _let them_ create the falsified version of Tim to be the illusion of hope. You _let them_ add in the quartz mines as eternal punishment instead of being able to go home. You _let them_ kidnap people for Games they never agreed to play." He peered into Otto's eyes, the smirk on his face growing with each statement he said. "Hadrian and Mevia did the actual work, true, but you were complacent in it. And that-" the cold blade was brought up to press between Otto's jaw and neck- "is just as terrible as anything those two did. Isn't it?"

Otto didn't even attempt to speak.

Any words he'd say against that, anything to defend himself from these accusations, to make the Judge see that their judgment was wrong, to show that he wasn't as bad as Hadrian and Mevia, anything to help save his life- it was all completely devoid from his mind.

He was only cold and weighted with dread, and could only stare at the blade that had begun to let blood drip from his flesh and down his neck.

Dealmaker looked at him once more with his smirk, but a hint of something besides cruelty lingered in his eyes this time.

"Unlike the Punishments, I don't have anything personal against you, Otto. I'm just following the Judge's orders. And, you know... you're the last person I'll confess to that I _do_ have some sympathy remaining." He shrugged. "I just haven't let in interfere when I make my choices."

"_Well maybe you should've._"

The scathing hiss of a sentence that emerged from neither man sent a shudder through Otto's body, and he saw Dealmaker's face snap into shock.

And slowly, both their heads turned to a corner of the room that neither had looked at before.

And there stood a figure nearly as tall as an enderman, with burning slits of pink eyes to match. Black patches that looked almost like soot stained most of their visible flesh, and their clothes were colored a muddled mess and stained with both grime and blood. A twisted jaw that resembled something more of a dragon's than a human's peaked out from a face that was covered in a hood, the only bits of hair visible colored black like ink.

Rage simmered off of them so potently that Otto barely realized that there was something about them that was familiar.

But the cold blade of the sword dropped from his neck, and Otto's eyes looked to Dealmaker.

And the expression he saw was one of horror.

* * *

Fear made his heart scream and try to crawl out of his throat. Horror and guilt mixed and made his chest wrench and the voice that had hissed replayed in his head over and over again, and repressed memories forced their way to the front of Dealmaker's mind.

The victory that had been moments away from them sharing.

The promises that they'd make it home together.

The crunch of armor and bones and the squelch of flesh and guts.

The scent and wetness of blood as it stained his armor and the floor the body had hit.

The raw, pain-filled screams of "_TRAITOR!_" as she had been forcefully dragged from the arena, thrashing violently and shouting as he forced himself to turn his eyes away, and look Hadrian in the eyes.

He didn't even need to see her throw back her head, and see the hood fall to reveal the edges of black hair that turned to the true color of bright red to recognize her.

Shaking in both body and voice, he choked out, "Petra?"


	30. Revenge (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Stabbing**

* * *

The name seemed to echo in the room of quartz and obsidian.

The one who had been named snarled, blood dripping from the jaw as it pulled back and opened to reveal a purple tongue.

"Yeah, I am Petra," the growling hiss of a voice crawled out, "the same one you betrayed and _stabbed through the gut_."

Otto could only watch as Dealmaker grew even paler, body shaking violently and eyes shining as he said, "I-"

"You what?" The growling only worsened as her red-stained claws began to spread. "You didn't believe you'd have to face the _consequences_?"

Dealmaker opened his mouth as if to speak, but only a choked sound like that of a cornered animal escaped.

"You can't even say anything, can you?" she said, and purple veins glowed underneath the red that stained on her flesh. "You can't even say anything to the woman you so brutally _betrayed_?"

Dealmaker flinched, and his eyes ended up turned towards the ground.

A mistake, because Petra's body vanished and appeared in front of him, and the back of her hand slammed into his chest, an audible thud and choked shout sounding as his body thumped against the wall.

"_Look at me!_" she screeched at him, "LOOK AT ME YOU _BASTARD_! YOU SPILLED MY GUTS ON THE GROUND, AND JOINED THE MAN YOU SWORE WE'D DEFEAT! YOU BETRAYED ME! YOU BETRAYED _ALL OF US_!" Her screeching evolved into roaring, words barely discernible as the volume of her anger and rage increased.

And then she let out a screeching, scraping sound that pounded around the room, and Otto had to clasp his hands over his ears as if it would protect him from the stabbing pain of the horrible sound. He realized it was laughing only as it stopped, and Petra snarled again.

"I already gave Hadrian and Mevia what they deserved," her voice was no longer loud and filled with rage, but the malicious hiss still bristled as she spoke. "Spilled their guts and make flesh and guts all into one big mess of red. And now, it's time I get my revenge-" the twisted jaw seem to curve into an almost smile as she towered over the shaking and almost sobbing Dealmaker- "on the one who wronged me the in most."

The claws of a hand lifted, and then swung down.

But the sound wasn't the crunch of bone, or squelch of flesh.

It was a clang.

Everyone in the room's eyes widened as they saw the claw stuck in mid-air, having impacted only against an invisible shield.

"Really." a new voice, monotonous and cold, rung out over the entire office. "You're so impatient, Petra. You couldn't have waited just a couple hours?"

Heads turned, and standing behind the desk, the enchanted diamond sword once Dealmaker's now in their hand, was a person in a long, black cloak. A silver mask covered the upper half of their face, revealing only eyes stained and colored green, pupils pure white and slit. The only flesh visible was pale, almost white, and the strands of hair that peaked from underneath their hood was pitch black to contrast.

"Everything would've been so much easier if you just hadn't helped M1," they said, and then their right hand, the one Otto hadn't seen, rose above the desk to be in plain view.

He felt bile churn his stomach and choke his throat.

A gauntlet was brandished on their right hand, the material an almost orange shade patterned with triangles and angles, a plastic white square on the back of the hand, with buttons that gleamed and glimmered. It was the perfect resemblance of a Command Block, but in the form of a gauntlet.

It frightened him, even with the black cracks that spread across the artifact, a clear sign of damage that spread from the wrist across the palm and even had begun to creep it's way up the fingers.

This was the Judge.

And that gauntlet was how they'd created all of this.

The hallway and the rooms upon rooms.

The elaborate workings designed for death.

The existence of the Punishments.

"Well then, Petra?" the cold voice cut into Otto's mind, and he realized that he had somehow not heard what they were saying, mind reeling from the revelation of the gauntlet and the identity of the Judge. "Help me serve my justice, and then I'll give you your revenge?" A smile appeared, cruel and just as cold as the rest of them. "You know everyone here is just as bad as _him_, after all."

Petra's bright pink eyes glowed, and were narrowed, and it was only when those eyes, reminiscent of an enderman's, were set on him, did the Judge's words sink into his mind.

His heart thudded in his chest as veins glowed purple against black skin again, a growl sounding from the back of their throat, and as she vanished, a distant bang of a door was heard.

Not that he noticed, since in the very next moment, Petra was looming over him, claws stained with the blood of those he'd once known, and who he'd helped create the Games.

He barely even heard Harper's terrified scream of "_OTTO!_" before the arm swept down.

And blood choked it's way up his throat as claws embedded themselves in his chest.


	31. Wronged (GORE)

**Gore warning: Minor ****disembowelment, lots of blood**

* * *

The scream had barely left Harper's throat before the crunch of bones and squelch of flesh emerged.

She didn't even see the claws strike, only the hulking figure of the monster as it had appeared in front of Otto.

Blood splattered with further squelching and crunching as the claws were wrenched from his body, and the monster twisted around to reveal pink eyes burning with fury, and Otto's body now in plain view. Eyes wide and blood spurting from his gaping mouth, his chest stained red from his coat torn with claw marks that revealed dark red flesh, even exposing glimpses of bone and organs.

The horror-struck shock caused flashes of Ivor's death replayed before her eyes, and the expression was burned and branded into her mind.

Otto's corpse hadn't even begun falling before it poofed, his only remnants being the blood staining the floor and the monster's claws.

And Harper felt her heart shatter as the body disintegrated, her blood pounding and burning and frozen all at once, her throat choked and her eyes grew wet as hot tears began to form, her violently shaking hand clasped over her mouth, because Otto was _dead_.

She'd already lost Ivor as he'd been torn apart from the inside, she hadn't even been present to witness the death of Cassie, and now Otto's chest had been ripped open right before her.

Three people she'd known and loved, gone permanently.

Her stomach churned so violently, that had her throat not already been choked, she would've vomited.

Then, among the blood roaring in her ears, among the tears blurring her vision, a sound cut through all of that.

A sharp, cruel, metallic sound.

She saw, then, the diamond blade, gleaming with enchantments, in the hand of the cloaked figure.

The black cloaked swished as they turned, and Harper didn't need to see the silver mask on inhumanely pale skin, the all too green eyes with slit pupils of white, or even the gauntlet that resembled one of reality's most powerful blocks wrought with black cracks, to know who this figure was.

All she needed to see was the smile.

The cold, cruel, cocky smile of the Judge.

They had the audacity to _smile _at all the death they'd caused.

Another sound cut out from the blood pounding in her ears, a scream-

"_HARPER!_"

Aiden's voice snapped in her mind just as she saw the monster- _the final Punishment_\- flash in purple sparks out of the corner of her eye, and she barely managed to dodge the claw as it swept past her face, the iron scent of blood as droplets landed on her face strong and piercing.

The final Punishment snarled at her, claw raised again, but there was a streak of flame as Blaze tackled them, and the two Punishments began to battle. Claws clashed with golden rods and sparks of purple appeared as they dissipated as fire flew around the room.

Harper's attention was only ripped away from the violent clash when the sound of metal scraping sounded once more.

And she looked back at the cloaked figure, the smile still remaining, the armored fingers more resembling talons scraping against the blade of diamond.

"I admit, this is not how I thought this day would go," their voice spoke, completely artificial and cold, yet an eager cruelness of an undertone lingered. Their eyes looked up, slowly going between Aiden and Harper, smile widening to show teeth. "But damn it, if this is what it takes to do the right thing, I won't let simple complications like this stop me."

Simple complications.

The word made something in Harper snap, rage boiling inside of her as she ran towards the Judge, the grief of Otto screaming through the choking her throat.

The blue blade gleamed as the Judge prepared to strike, but they let out a startled shout as Aiden slammed into them, a thunk sounding as they hit the desk, and he grappled to wrangle the weapon from their grasp.

Harper grabbed the other arm as the gauntlet began to reach towards Aiden, and the Judge hissed as Harper drew back her bucket-clad fist, and slammed into the silver mask of the Judge.

A crack sounded as her fist collided, and the image of Otto's death burned in the front of her mind, and rage slammed her fist into the mask again, another crack sounding as she screamed at the one who'd taken Ivor and Otto and Cassie from her. Rage boiled her blood and her heart pounded and roared so loudly, she didn't even notice the faint buzzing sound until the glowing lights pierced her eyes.

A wave of energy slammed into her, pain erupting in her body as she was blown away and she was thrown against the ground, and now her entire body was aching and burning in pain.

She gasped for breathe, the muscles in her arms screaming in protest as she scrambled to sit up, her hand stinging inside the sizzling iron, head pounding and making the sounds of the Punishment's battle and the whirling of flames and particles fogged and echoing all the same.

She looked at Aiden, also struggling to sit up, pain lacing his ragged breathing, and she saw him hiss and recoil as he touched where his burnt flesh was, his hand coming away from his face stained red.

Then her eyes geared towards the Judge again, gauntlet clutched towards their chest, the front of their cloak torn to shreds.

Black and purple gleamed from underneath the black cloth, part of obsidian armor plates fused together with black lines, other plates gleaming an even brighter shade of purple. A blue-green square gleamed in the center of the chest plate, revealed when the Judge's gauntlet moved from their chest to their face.

Harper spotted the strands of hair visible from beneath the now tattered hood, most of it black, but her heart climbed into her throat and froze there as she recognized strands of faded blonde among them.

The cracked mask slid off with a slick of blood, and Harper could only watch in slow horror as the Judge shrugged off the cloak and let it fall to the ground, showing not only their full armor in all it's glory, but also a face that was all too familiar to Harper.

And even though her skin was still too pale, her smile was too cruel and uncharacteristic, and the streak of blond among the black was faded, there was no denying the identity of the Judge.

"Don't tell me you're all surprised," the authentic voice of Jesse spoke, the maliciousness and hatred now ringing clear with her manic laugh. "Who better to punish Sinners than the one most wronged by them?"


	32. Sentence

**Gore Warning: Blood, Slicing and Slashing deeply, Exposed skin**

* * *

The cloak crumpled to the ground, and Aiden's chest was suffocating as cold horror creeped through his veins. The stinging of his burns faded to the back of his mind, even as his shaking hand was still stained red with his blood.

Green eyes that were so familiar and yet simultaneously so strikingly different, flat out monstrous, stared down at him, a smile gleaming in self-righteousness as Jesse lifted her chin, unphased by the blood that dripped down her face and onto her armor.

He couldn't breath.

_The Judge was Jesse._

The mask dropped to the ground with a clatter, so loud despite the flames and ender-esque Punishment roaring as they appeared and vanished throughout the room, and Jesse stepped forward as she pushed the gauntlet through her hair, smearing the blood on her cheek as she did so.

"I didn't expect you to actually land a hit, I'll give you that," she said as the sword in her hand twirled, "I really have underestimated you all, haven't I? Other Judgment Days were so much easier compared to this ruinous wreck."

The callous tone of the last sentence punched him in the gut.

"How much blood is on your hands?" the statement hoarsely slipped out of his mouth, quiet even as he tried to scream at his muscles to move, to not remain there frozen in both pain and shock.

Jesse's head tilted to the side, a brow raised. "I've seen all you Sinners die so many times, I could almost claim I lost count. But is it really _blood_ when those who are dying deserve it?" The sword lifted, the pale fist clenching. "I still don't know what happened to the Aiden I fought in Sky City, so I can at least serve his sentence to all who are like him."

"That's not justice," Harper's voice was all but a shaking gasp, "that's revenge."

Jesse's pure white pupils slit even further as she glared at Harper, grin turning from conceited to forced. "Considering circumstances, aren't they the same thing?" Then those cruel green eyes of her looked back at Aiden.

His body finally snapped into motion, rolling and scrambling upwards and back as Jesse ran towards him, and he felt air rush past his face and sting at his raw burns as the blade swung just by his face, and he caught an eager gleam in their eyes that made his spine shudder, and he barely managed to leap back as the blade cut through air again.

"How could you kill so many times? How could Maya and Gill die so many times?" he shouted at her, and she only laughed yet again, the blade swinging once more, this time the blade cutting a tear into his jacket's sleeve, and the pain that stung his arm told him that she'd cut flesh, too.

Metal covered fingers wrapped around his throat, and his head pounded worse as it was slammed against the ground.

Jesse grinned mockingly down at him as he felt his airway closed off, and she opened her mouth, but then her eyes darted to the side and his throat was released in a gasp as she leaped back from Harper's punch.

"Really, you're both so convinced I'm in the wrong." Jesse chuckled, grabbing Harper's fist as she attempted to attack her again, and Aiden hurried to stand up as she laughed and kneed Harper in the stomach. "But you're only trying to kill me because you think I've wronged you. And if you think that's all you think my motivations are, well then-" the fake gasp was let out just as Aiden finally kept his feet from slipping- "you're killing _me_ for the same reasons _I'm_ killing _you_."

"Then you should have no issue dying that way!" he screamed, and he leaped towards her as she blocked another punch from Harper, and he grabbed her fist around the sword, trying to wrench the weapon from her grasp.

Harper kicked her in the chest with an audible thunk, but while Jesse hissed, her grip on the sword only tightened, and she wrenched her arm from Aiden's clutch and twisted to plunge the sword into Harper's shoulder. She screamed in pain, as the blade ripped through her arm, and then the weapon swung out in an arc of red, a cracking buzz sounding as she threw Harper away in a wave of pixel sparks. Aiden tried to dodge the oncoming streak of blue and red, but the rumbling of the floor made him shake, and the sword gashed a large chunk from Aiden's forearm.

Pain erupted and he gasped, but then the glowing buzz appeared out of the corner of his eyes and he could barely hold his arms up before another crackling blast of power emerged, launching him back to the floor, the wound on his arm searing and muscles stinging as they were exposed to the cold air. The strong metallic scent accompanied the wetness that began to drip down from burning on his face, and his head throbbed in agony.

"Why did I bother with Punishments in the first place?" Jesse hissed, and he saw them clutching the gauntlet, cracking and sparking only further, to their chest again, smile now turned a snarl. "I should've known that even another version of me wouldn't have the same drive for justice."

He struggled to move his legs, but then a quake rumbled the ground and walls, and among the shaking, he looked up to see that the room was glitching. Sounds of cracking and crackling boomed around as quartz and gold glitched into stone and sky, and cracks made of blackness and sparks of green and blue spread across the wall and floor, and then rewove themselves in pixels of white, and he gagged as he felt his gut twist and fizzle as it had when he'd first appeared here.

The shaking stopped along with the glitching, but many of the cracks still remained, and holes of sky were surrounded in white glitching among the floor, and walls had large patches of blocks that had been turned into stone and ore.

For a split second, a deadly silence emerged, as his eyes drifted away from the mess of the surroundings, and looked towards Jesse's gauntlet. Pieces were glitching between orange and green and purple, metal was flaking off, and now he realized that the cracks were not just pure black, but also had the faint sparks of green and blue.

Jesse's skin was suddenly less pale than before, one of her eyes had a pupil that was black and round instead of white and slit, and the expression on her face was one of shock.

With fear underlying it.

The realization of what it really meant for the gauntlet to be the sole source of the Judge's power made his heart stop.

Then there was a slam and crack in the background, and the roaring of the one Punishment snapped him out of immobility. Adrenaline flooded through his veins, and he barely realized he was standing before he'd already tackled the Judge, slamming their head into the wall as they screeched, and he grabbed the gauntlet, foot against her stomach as he attempted to yank it off her hand, even as it glitched and crackled.

The diamond shimmered in the corner of his eye, but he heard Harper scream as she grabbed the hilt of the sword, finally succeeding it in wrenching it from the Judge's grasp as the gauntlet buzzed and glowed again, and he slammed his fist into her face.

Jesse screamed as her jaw let out an audible crack, but the gauntlet still fired, the firing not a wave but a blast of energy that sent him backwards, but even against the rumbling and glitching of the room and the wrenching that burned in his gut, he still stood, even as Jesse leaped away from Harper as the diamond sword cracked the wall. His gut burned and wrenched, and he saw pixels of white dart along his own skin, his body feeling like it was being called away from this place.

"_NO!_" the sudden screech pierced his ears, and his head snapped aside to see the final Punishment as the source of it, disappearing away from where she'd pinned a blood-soaked Blaze against the wall, the flaming Punishment collapsing to the ground, and reappearing in a flash of purples sparks in front of the man in the pale blue suit-_Dealmaker_ -, who's body was glitching with white and black pixels violently. Her claws wrapped around jaw and throat, muffling his scream, but then the glitching consumed both of them, and they vanished, a black crack spreading and splitting apart the floor where they had just stood.

Aiden's mind swam at the sight, not yet processing it, but the crackling only reminded him to look back at Jesse, currently fighting against Harper. The sword no longer gleaming enchanted, and the obsidian infused in the armor clearly doing it's job, even as Harper swung with only one hand.

He ran towards the two, and managed to grab a hold of the gauntlet once more, and struggled again to rip it off her hand, but somewhere in the grappling and struggling, the gauntlet twisted and she grappled hold of his wrist.

He looked away from the gauntlet and up at Jesse, her eyes _normal_ and human looking again, wide in terror and shock. One hand, no longer pale, was shaking and dripping blood from the palm the diamond blade it was holding back. The other hand gripped onto his wrist tightly, fingers digging into his skin, and the flesh exposed further down the arm was still sickly pale. Blood oozed from cracks that were splitting open her skin, her flesh peeling away from the red that was stained with the starred black.

Fire suddenly flew by and consumed her wrist, and she screamed in agony as Harper tore the sword from her palm, and a golden rod swung towards Aiden as he tore his wrist from Jesse's grasp. As he grabbed the rod and stabbed it into the control panel on the gauntlet with a wet crunch, Harper plunged the sword into Jesse's neck, choking her screams with a squelch and splatter of blood.


	33. Wounded (GORE)

**Gore Warning: Throat gore, lots of blood**

* * *

Everything tore apart.

The crack followed by a squelch as Aiden had stabbed the rod into the gauntlet had sent waves of cracks of black and white shattering across the room, splintering the floor and making the walls crumble and spasm in pixels of white.

Agony was sprawled on Jesse's face, blood spurting from where the sword was embedded in her neck, and spilling out of her mouth as she choked in attempts to breathe, and a crack split the wall behind them as she let out a gargled gag of a scream.

Aiden wanted to tear his eyes away from the gruesome sight, tear his hands away from the pain that burned his body, but he could only watch Jesse's blood spill, her body convulsing as her head tossed back and only furthered the sword's wound, and he felt his stomach writhe and his own throat begin to burn and gag as he watched the flesh of her throat expose, a crunch as the blade hit her collar finally making him tear his eyes away, and gear towards the gauntlet.

The cracks split the gauntlet apart, pieces falling off and glitching back, and he saw that the blackness had even crept up the blaze rod and had begun to spread to his own hand.

His veins were already boiling with so much pain that he hadn't even felt his own flesh beginning to split apart.

The arm that was in the gauntlet suddenly spiraled away into mere dust, and he looked up to see the sword stained in Jesse's blood slip from Harper's grasp and clatter to the ground, along with the armor she had once worn.

Jesse, the Judge, was dead.

Then the gauntlet fell to pieces off of the embedded rod, and he didn't even see the still glimmering plastic hit the floor before his veins buzzed and the pain made him scream, before his gut and entire body wrenched, and his surroundings spun and existence itself seemed to blur as he felt his body being pulled and dragged away, and then everything vanished.

* * *

"We're nowhere close to finding them," Jesse snapped, body stiff and tense as her fingers clenched her shoulders tight enough to bruise, and her feet made audible thumps against the floor as she paced.

Lukas could only watch as she did this, and thinking he needed to at least try and help, he said, "Jesse, I know this is stressful, but-"

"Stressful? Stressful is an understatement!" she snapped at him, and threw her arms upwards. "Sky City's in chaos over losing both it's prisoners and it's founder, Harry and the Youtuber's are still nagging me over where the fuck their friends went, and our two most dangerous enemies are nowhere to be found! And oh, being the big fucking hero-" the speed of her pacing increased as her hand gestures got more wild and violent- "I guess that means that everyone _has_ to go to me asking me what the fuck happened. Why the fuck would I know? I'm not fucking responsible for this fucking bullshit!"

She continued to rant, and Lukas backed away as the words spilled out of her in a voice loud enough that he half expected the entire town could hear her.

He flinched as her fist slammed into the iron wall, then watched her recoil in pain with a hiss as she backed away, clutching at her now-bleeding knuckles.

"God, I- I just- I can't," Jesse said, her voice shaking as she ran a hand through her black and yellow hair. "Ivor vanished without a trace, and next thing I know I'm surrounded by missing people. Why is it always me? Can't somebody else take over for once?"

She breathed heavily, in and out, and when he was sure she'd calmed down a little, Lukas slowly walked over to her, and hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If you need to take a break, Jesse, then do it. You're under a lot of pressure, and me or the others can always take over for a little while. No matter what, we'll get through this somehow. We always have."

She nodded, and he watched her rub at her face, not mentioning how her eyes were shining. "No, I can do it. I gotta be a responsible leader right? 'Sides, I..." she trailed off, and looked up, and Lukas tensed, noticing that something in the air felt off.

Then there was a crackling sound that split through the air, and he watched as a person materialized out of thin air, and thudded against the ground with a shout as they fell.

There was so much blood covering him that it took Lukas a good second to recognize Aiden.

"Aiden!" he shouted, and he ran over as Aiden sat upwards, gasping and clutching at his chest. "What the- oh my god, what the hell happe-"

The crackling sounded in the air again as another person fell out of the air, and he watched Harper let out an "ack!" as she slammed against the ground, her clothes also soaked in blood.

"Oh my god," Jesse whispered, and Lukas saw Harper's eyes shoot open and almost flinch as she ran towards her. "What the hell happened to you?"

Harper didn't say anything, but he saw her body shaking, shock and an emotion almost resembling fear on her face as Jesse crouched down near her.

Then the crackling sounded once more, and he looked behind Aiden to see someone else fall from nothing.

Except instead of colliding with the ground instantly, they actually floated above it for a brief second, before they stumbled and hit the floor, and a gasp of pain escaped.

He watched them stand, and felt his blood freeze as he saw the stranger's eyes look at him, pure dark red with glowing yellow pupils. He was also splattered with blood, dripping especially from the large gashes on his face, and something about him seemed so familiar that it almost made Lukas shudder.

Then Jesse ran past and grabbed the front of the stranger's shirt, yanking him to his feet with a hiss of pain as she growled at him, "What the_ hell_ did you do to them? Where is-"

"Wait,-" all the eyes in the room snapped towards Aiden again- "he's with us! Blaze is with us! Don't- don't kill him, I- we can explain."

Aiden winced once more, his hand going to his chest, and Lukas's eyes widened as saw that there were wounds that resembled cracks in it, and what should've been blood leaking out was colored black. Skin flaked away from the wounds, stained red but intermingling with golden powder and shards of gold.

Breathing heavy, Lukas started to help Aiden to his feet. "Okay, explanations are nice, but you _need_ medical treatment." Aiden leaned against him, and Lukas could feel how he was shaking, and then Harry ran into the room.

"You- what-" the man sputtered, "wha- how- wait, what happened?" Then shock, fear, and relief all spread across his face as he saw Harper. "Harper, shit, are you okay?" he asked as he ran over to Harper.

"Harry," Harper gasped, as she put an arm around him and stood to her feet, shaking. "It- it's a long story... I-"

"Wait."

Jesse's voice made everyone freeze, and Lukas noticed the way Aiden's body tensed and his breath caught, and he seemed to start shaking even more.

Jesse was looking at all of them, Blaze standing besides her, a suspicious and confused expression on her face as she looked over all of them.

"Where's Ivor?"

If the silence could get even more quiet, it did then.

He saw Aiden look at the floor, his breathing suddenly shaking as his body did.

Harper opened her mouth, as if to speak, but her voice shook as she did so.

"He's dead," the strangely familiar voice from Blaze rang out among the hall, and everyone looked at him as Jesse did, his face showing only lingers of sadness. "Isn't he?"

Harper nodded slowly, and tears began to leak down her face, mixing with the drops of blood that stained it. "So is Otto, Cassie, Maya, Gill, and- and we think more."

The names crashed down on Lukas, he felt his throat choke and dread sink into chest, and he looked at Aiden, horror clinging to him.

He didn't even need to ask, because Aiden's face displayed everything.

"I have their jackets," he said hoarsely, "They're a bloodied mess, and... hard to look at, but- I have them."

If his heart hadn't already shattered, it did just then, and his chest grew heavy, and he tightened his grip around Aiden, in as much of a hug as he could manage with their position.

Then he forced his eyes to look away, to where everybody else was already staring: Jesse.

Her green eyes were wide, her body was rigid and looked about to snap, and her skin seemed to have grown pale. Blaze was tense and almost leaning away from her, as if expecting her to lash out.

Lukas did half expect her to lash out, to turn angry and violent, and begin throwing accusations.

She only inhaled sharply, and her face snapped towards Blaze.

"Who are you?" she asked, voice tense, but strained with an underlying emotional storm.

He visibly tensed at that, and rubbed at his shoulder. "...I used to be Jesse too," he said, quietly. Jesse's eyes shot open at that, but otherwise didn't move a muscle, and he said, "It's a long story. If we can treat injuries first-" he nodded at Aiden and Harper- "then I... we can explain everything."

Lukas was now completely lost, and he looked back at Aiden, the blood and now tears on his face, the burns and the exposed inner flesh and the hand covered in cracks.

"Yeah," Aiden said, "we'll explain later."


	34. Scars

It took longer than Harper would've liked for them to explain all that had happened.

Having essentially a crowd around them after she and Aiden had just gotten patched up was not a pleasant feeling, but they all were here because they'd lost someone, and they wanted as much of an explanation as they could get.

So Harper, along with Aiden and Blaze, explained as much as they could.

It was harder to talk about Malady, who she was and what she'd done, than she'd expected it to be, especially when the woman who resembled her lingered in the corner, visibly tense and listening.

Blaze explained some of his insights behind the scenes and from personally being a Punishment, providing a possible explanation for why versions of Jesse had become so monstrous, and Harper almost felt bad as Aiden then had to explain where the burns on his face had come from.

The part of the crowd known as 'Youtubers' were not fond of hearing her more sympathetic view of Cassie, but they were the most horrified of everyone when she talked about Haunted, especially when Harper and Aiden described the portraits and bloodstains they'd found.

"You don't think that Stampy was one of the people Haunted killed, do you?" Lizzie asked, and Stacy visibly winced besides her.

"I don't know for sure, but Haunted did say he murdered a whole load of people," Aiden said, leaning against Lukas, and his eyes widened as if in revelation as he slowly continued, "and that load of people had to come from somewhere."

The crowd all visibly tensed at that. There were people here who'd seen their friends vanish, or people they'd worked for disappear before their eyes- competitors from the Games, the blond man and his guards from Sky City, the Youtubers- and no one needed to think on what Aiden said for long to realize what he meant.

Talking about the discovery of the loss of his friends was hardest for Aiden, and she could only look at him with sympathy as he and Lukas sat besides each other, their grief so evident that she even saw sympathy on some of the guards' faces.

Talking about Program was more difficult than anything before, especially since she didn't miss Lukas and Petra's horror at learning Aiden had become useful, Petra's shock at learning that there was a Punishment version of her, and the grim silence that emerged when she said she had killed Program.

But the worst part was when they told everyone who the Judge was.

Harper felt guilt seep into her veins as she saw everyone look at Jesse, the shock and horror worst on her face at learning that it wasn't just 'another Jesse' who had been the Judge, but actually a version of herself, who was responsible for so many deaths.

She wasn't even in the room when Harper shakily revealed that she was the one who killed the Judge.

Telling everyone all that had happened was incredibly stressful and an emotional strain, and she felt completely drained when everyone had finally left, to the point where even four days after Judgment Day, she still felt tired.

She grabbed the bubbling healing potion from the brewing stand, knowing that her injuries hadn't fully recovered and that even if she was well enough to walk, she should always have one on her.

She stiffened as she heard footsteps behind her, and as she turned around, she felt her body freeze as she saw Jesse standing in the doorway, eyes cast down towards the floor.

Harper looked at Jesse, but it was difficult when images of the woman with the same face maniacally laughing swam around her mind, or otherwise images of her stained with blood, and Harper cringed as she remembered the feeling of driving that blue blade through flesh.

For a minute, there was only silence.

Then Jesse, eyes still at the floor, shook her head. "I-I'm sorry- I don't think I can look you in the eyes right now," she said, her voice shaking. "You had to go through all that, and the person who made you go through all that was- was me, and that you h-had to..." her trembling voice trailed into silence, and Harper had to force herself to swallow her rising guilt.

"She wasn't you. Not anymore," Harper said, "But... I know it's hard. I don't blame you for... not being able to look at me." _I can barely look at you myself_, she thought. "We're all grieving, for some reason or another. We're all going to have some troubles adapting. What we went through isn't something that's going to go away in a day. All that matters now-" she looked at the potion gleaming in her hand- "is that it's finally all over, and we can begin to heal."

"Some scars are permanent, though," Jesse said.

Harper was quiet for a moment, painfully aware of the scars that were present, both mental and physical. Her shoulders were both still stiff and hard to move, Aiden and Blaze's faces were almost disfigured, and any sleep any of them had managed was short and filled with nightmares filled with blood.

After a while of thinking, Harper said, "Maybe. But a scar is still better than an open wound."

She slipped the potion into her inventory, then walked past Jesse, hoping that maybe one day, they could look each other in the eyes again.

And maybe then they could grieve Ivor together.

* * *

"You don't have to do this for me, you know," Aiden said as Lukas wrapped new bandages around his hand, "I could probably do this myself."

Even though several days had passed, and the cracks in his fingers had mostly healed, some of the cracks in his palm were still open and bleeding. It was concerning, especially since his blood had been mixed with black at first, but at least now it was red, swollen, and appeared to be on it's way to healing.

"I don't think trying to wrap bandages with one hand would go very well," Lukas said, eyes downwards as he tied the bandages. "Besides, it's the least I can do."

Aiden let out a soft "Hmph" at that, but it had no force behind it.

He and Lukas had been in an interesting place over the last few days. Neither of them had forgotten about Sky City, especially since those were the events that lead Aiden into the whole Judgment Day situation in the first place, and it wasn't exactly like Aiden's actions could be forgotten just cause he disappeared for a day.

But Maya and Gill were gone.

Even if Sky City had been a disastrous occasion on all ends, all the Ocelots had still cared about each other, deep down, and now both Lukas and Aiden were grieving their friends' deaths. They'd set up gravestones in memoriam, and buried the jackets instead of inventories, and both had embraced a silent truce to mourn together, especially since Aiden had survived, admittedly with a lot of scars, while they hadn't.

The reminder of that resulted in his good hand absentmindedly reaching up towards his throat, and pain prickled as his fingers brushed against the burn scars on his neck.

Lukas' hand gently grabbed his wrist, and pulled it away from his face. "You know you're not supposed to do that."

Aiden opened his mouth to say that it wasn't a big deal and just happened, but the concern in Lukas' bright blue eyes made his mouth dry, and he didn't say anything.

There's a brief silence, and then Lukas hesitantly asked, "So what have the people of Sky City decided to do with you?"

"Well-" Aiden turned his gaze towards the wall- "Milo said that the Judgment Day counts towards my punishment-" the word makes him tense- "and, uh, so I'm being taken out of prison. Being put under house arrest instead; still have to do community service though." He shrugged. "And they'll be taking me back to their world in a couple days or so, once Milo gets more used to his new leadership position." He wanted to brush his hair out of his face, but knew that if he moved his hand, Lukas would assume he was going to touch his scars again.

He wasn't looking at Lukas' face, but he could feel the tension in his hand, since he hadn't yet uncurled his fingers from around his wrist.

"So you'll be gone in a couple days then, I guess," Lukas said, an odd tone of almost sadness in his voice.

Aiden nodded. "Yeah. Got to make up for what I did and all that."

They fell back into silence. There was a sense of expectation in the air, and Aiden's chest felt tense, but he wasn't quite sure why.

Well, he knew what he expected, but he didn't think Lukas would actually-

"Do you think they'll allow you to write?"

Aiden looked at Lukas, who wasn't looking him in the eye, but at his hand, which was still gently holding Aiden's wrist.

"I mean, I should be allowed paper and stuff, so I should be able to? Not sure exactly what to write, I'll have to get used to using my left hand if-"

"I figured writing in general, but I meant letters specifically," Lukas interupted, and his face turned towards the wall.

Aiden blinked at Lukas, almost not believing what the words that had just come out of his mouth. "Uh, I think so... I just have to find someone to deliver them. And..." he slowly moved his hand, so that instead of Lukas holding his wrist, his hand now rested against his, "it might help if they know I have someone to write to?"

Lukas looked back at him, and a soft smile grew on his face, and he wrapped his hand around Aiden's with a light squeeze.

"Well, I'll talk to them and see what I can do."

Aiden returned the smile.

They weren't back to where they'd been before all this, and they probably never would without Maya and Gill.

But this?

This was something.

* * *

The night sky was beautiful.

The dark blue shade brought a sense of peace, speckled with silver stars that glittered and sparkled, a sliver of a moon gleaming and peaking behind the clouds.

Blaze had never thought he'd appreciate something like the night so much, before everything with the Judge had happened.

He sat just on the edge of the town, sitting on a fence as he absorbed his surroundings, happy to finally no longer be surrounded by gray.

He even appreciated little things like the color of the grass, of all things.

There were footsteps behind him, odd for this time at night, and he twisted around to look behind him.

Aiden stood there, outlined faintly by the silver moonlight. He wasn't wearing his jacket, so Blaze could easily see the faint scar on his forearm, not out of place with the dark burns on his face and the bandages that covered his hand.

Neither of them said anything, only staring at one another, the awkwardness that had lingered over the past few days was present and blanketed them.

Aiden's hand awkwardly raised in a wave. "Hi."

"Hey," Blaze said in return. He tilted his head to the side, and asked, "Did you mean to run into me, or did it just happen?"

"I..." he brushed strands of hair out of his face, "I did want to find you."

"Well, you've accomplished that goal," he said, and in a combination of floating and turning, he faced towards Aiden. "...How are your scars?"

Aiden shrugged. "Doing better. Some of the cracks are still bleeding, but it's all red now, instead of black." His good hand touched the bandaged one, almost absentmindedly. "How about you?"

"They've stopped hurting, mostly," Blaze said, and he resisted the urge to reach up and touch the long scars that spread over his neck and face, permanents markings on his skin from where Petra had sliced her claws in.

Aiden nodded, and hesitantly walked over to the fence, and leaned next to Blaze. Both were quiet for a while, their eyes gazing towards the sky instead of at each other, simply sitting with the cool breeze as the only sound.

"Do you know what you're going to do?" Blaze decided to ask and break the quiet, and he looked at Aiden. "Now that we're not in a life-or-death situation."

"Going back to the new Sky City," Aiden said with a shrug, "I'm only on house arrest now, since Milo considered the... situation-" his fingers gripped against the fence- "community service hours I'm still doing, though. Still have to make up for what I've done, you know."

"You don't think..." Blaze began to trail off, but Aiden's curious gaze made him continue, "that this whole Judgment Day situation redeemed you, then?"

Aiden looked up at the sky, and his fingers tapped against the wood of the fence. "Not really?" he finally said, "I mean, it was one of the worst situations in my life and I almost died on several occasions, plus I lost so much, but... I don't know. I suffered, but suffering alone doesn't make up for the wrong I'd done." He shrugged, and let out a laugh. "That makes no sense, does it?"

"It makes perfect sense," Blaze said, and Aiden's brows raised at that. "I've been thinking on it, why Je-the Judge's logic didn't make sense to me; and I think it's because of what you just said. She didn't actually want people to right their wrongs, she just wanted the satisfaction of making them suffer." He shrugged. "That's what I think for now, anyways. I might change my mind later, but that's my current logic."

"...Fair enough," Aiden said after a moment.

They both fell into quiet once more, eyes turned towards the sky as clouds in the sky passed the moon once more.

Blaze wasn't sure what he expected from the silence, but it wasn't for Aiden to ask, "Do you know what _you're_ going to do, now that the Judge is gone?"

The question stunned him for a moment.

He knew what he was going to do, he just hadn't expected to be asked.

He inhaled deeply, feeling an almost nervousness spread through his veins as he said, "I'm going to leave town. After that, I'm not sure; either I'll hide away from society and make myself a home in the woods, or I'll try and explore the 'portal network' thing everyone's talking about, to try and find Petra and Dealmaker."

Aiden's eyes widened at the final statement. "You're still worried about them?"

"I can't help it," Blaze said, and floated one of his rods in front of his face. "The Judge may have poofed, but _they_ teleported. Petra is filled with rage, and didn't question the Judge's faulty logic, and I don't trust her to make logical decisions even after Dealmaker's dead. Of course, that's assuming she does manage to kill him, because if for some reason she can't, we have a selfish master manipulator running about unchecked. And neither of those options sound very nice."

"...Okay, I kinda get it," Aiden said, although he still seemed a little confused, and he crossed his arms. "But even if they didn't go to another dimension or something and you do somehow find them, what then?"

Blaze went silent, and his thought process whirled.

"Well, I'll have think about the specifics. It's not like I'll be able to find them anytime in the near future." He floated upwards and off of the fence, and hovered there in midair a moment as he looked out at the forest beyond. "I actually wanted to leave tonight, so I'll probably get going soon."

Aiden sat up abruptly, eyes wide. "Wh- you were just going to leave without telling anyone?"

"I told Jesse, so she didn't come hunt me down," Blaze said, and floated to stand on the fence post. "I figured she'd tell anyone who asked, not that I think anyone wouuld."

"You're the reason Harper and I got out of there alive!" Aiden said, hands thrown up in the air. "I mean, not going to claim we're best friends or anything, with-" he hands waved about and vaguely gestured towards the burns on his face- "but you saved us from Program. If nothing else, I am _incredibly_ thankful for that." His good hand reached behind his head, where Blaze recognized the chip had been implanted.

Blaze only shrugged in return, though. "It was only fair, considering that I almost killed you for the wrong reasons. And-" he cut Aiden off before he began- "I know you're both grateful, you've both already thanked me, and you have already apologized for another you's actions. There's no more words to say." He stretched upwards, looking up at the night sky once more, and then back at Aiden as he continued, "Besides, we were all victims of the Judge. It's only right that I helped you."

Silence emerged once more, and he and Aiden stared at each other for a long while.

Finally, Aiden let out a soft laugh, and stepped back. "Well, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit, but fair enough." He nodded at Blaze. "Go live your life however you want, now that you have the chance."

Blaze didn't know what it was about the sentiment, but he ended up giving Aiden the first small smile he'd had in a long time.

"And you go live yours," he said, and then he floated off of the fence and landed softly in the grass. He flipped the brown hood of his new outfit over his head, exchanged a wave with Aiden before he turned away, and then he walked away from the town, entering the near forest and leaving everything behind.

The Punishment was no longer bound by what the Judge had made him.

Harper and Aiden could now work off their Sins in a way that actually mattered.

And the self-branded Judge would no longer hang over them.

**The End**

* * *

**Author's Note: If you've read through the entire story, you'll probably have noticed I don't really have a habit of doing A/N's. But since this is the end of Sins and Punishments, I figured that one would be appropriate.**

**Sins and Punishments is actually an older story of mine. I finished in April 15th of this year, and posted this final chapter on DeviantArt, also titled Scars. I decided to post this on because I wanted to spread out to other websites with my fanfiction, and also because Sins and Punishments is the first story of mine that I've ever started and finished. It holds a special place in my heart thanks to that, and a part of me wants to share that with people- even if looking back on my writing in the older chapters is... well, I can tell I've improved.**

**But I've gone on my sentimental paragraphs about this story before, so I'll try to keep it shorter this time: Thank you for reading. To those who left reviews, thank you as well- even if I don't really know how to reply to any of them, I do see them eventually, and it has been so fun to see people theorizing about what's to come all over again, and the compliments always make me smile. (And to one in particular who I know is rereading: _Heck _I'm gonna melt into a puddle because I'm so flattered)**

**And if you wanna stick around, then feel free too! I have more stories planned for the future- though, those probably won't be finished beforehand like Sins and Punishments, so updates are likely to be slower on those. But hey, I finished a story one time, I'll be able to finish others.**

**Even if you don't stick around though, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the ride.**


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